• Question: What can Fluoroantimonic acid eat through?

    Asked by xxlizziexx to Clare, Divya, Ian, Jess, Lewis on 17 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: Lewis Dean

      Lewis Dean answered on 17 Mar 2014:

      I’m afraid that I am not a chemist, so I don’t know the answer to this one. Although I know that it is pretty nasty stuff – you certainly wouldn’t want to get any on your skin…

    • Photo: Ian Hands-Portman

      Ian Hands-Portman answered on 17 Mar 2014:

      It’s horribly reactive – about the only thing it won’t eat through is teflon. It’s the strongest known acid.

    • Photo: Clare Nevin

      Clare Nevin answered on 17 Mar 2014:

      There you go, nice answer from Ian

    • Photo: Divya Venkatesh

      Divya Venkatesh answered on 17 Mar 2014:

      On that note, this is interesting: http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2013/08/the-worlds-strongest-acids.html
      “with a pH of -31.3, it’s 100,000 billion billion billion times more potent than stomach acid, and makes its rambunctious cousin sulfuric acid look as gentle as a vanilla milkshake with whipped cream and a cherry on top”**

      **Sulphuric acid is dangerous too, probably more so because they actually keep it in chem labs!

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