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 Post subject: Simple chalk test
PostPosted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 7:37 am 
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Hello everybody,

before I start my simple quest, I ask you all to "ignore" my bad English (especially my grammatically mistakes).
I remember when I was at first year of geology Univ. that a teacher showed us a simple test to find out if a "rock" contains chalk/limestone, after 6-7 years people forget things, here I am, asking you guys about this.
What was that simple "solution" (liquid solution) what when the teacher dropped with pipette on the rock it started to make bubbles what said that, that rock contains chalk/limestone.
I hope that my question is understandable, sadly when I was at the Univ. there wasn't a Geology specialty Eng. teacher, so I mostly try to Google translate the specific words from my language to Eng. Now I hope that I did find the right word for my question (the rock name) because personally I never read/heard that word "chalk" but I guess limestone is the right word for this.

Thank you in advance for your understanding and for your kind help.

- Béla


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 Post subject: Re: Simple chalk test
PostPosted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 10:08 am 
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Perhaps you were testing for the presence of a calcium carbonate?


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 Post subject: Re: Simple chalk test
PostPosted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 11:49 am 
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Almost any acid when droppered onto any of the various forms of Calcium Carbonate, will bubble. This could be vinegar (5% acetic acid) or dilute hydrochloric acid. Muriatic acid (Hydrochloric 38% still available at the hardware store here in the USA for etching concrete) or battery acid (sulfuric acid).


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 Post subject: Re: Simple chalk test
PostPosted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 12:28 pm 
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Barbra Voltaire wrote:
Perhaps you were testing for the presence of a calcium carbonate?

Yes, that is it.

G4Lab wrote:
Almost any acid when droppered onto any of the various forms of Calcium Carbonate, will bubble. This could be vinegar (5% acetic acid) or dilute hydrochloric acid. Muriatic acid (Hydrochloric 38% still available at the hardware store here in the USA for etching concrete) or battery acid (sulfuric acid).


Thank you for the answer. Now the easiest to get for me would be the Battery Acid (sadly I am not from USA), can I use that as I get out from the battery or I must dilute with something else? Btw, would this acid attack the plastic? Or I must store in a little glass bottle? I ask this so that I know how to move with me in close future so that I have it on the field where I go.

Thank you again for your answers.


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 Post subject: Re: Simple chalk test
PostPosted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 5:56 pm 
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I would leave the battery acid in your car alone. You might end up with a battery that won't start the car. If you want to use automotive battery acid go to an auto parts store that handles batteries. They will have the acid. A polyethylene bottle can resist most acids but make sure there is no foil in the cap because the acid will eat it and probably whatever is under it too.

If you intend to carry it with you I would recommend just try out some white distilled vinegar (5% acetic acid) and see how well that works. That way if the bottle breaks you won't have burns which you will for sure with sulfuric acid. I would not carry more than a few ml and pack the vial in a plastic bag full of Bicarbonate of soda so that any acid which leaks will be neutralized. You could use chalk for that too.


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 Post subject: Re: Simple chalk test
PostPosted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 3:52 am 
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Thank you for the advice, I will do that in my next trip.

- Béla


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