I hate it when that happens

[kevingaustin]

Because really, who hasn't accidentally mixed together 6,000 gallons of hydrochloric acid and 500 gallons of caustic soda.

Comments

[mle292.livejournal.com]

Wait... why are those chemicals at a water treatment facility in the first place? What are they used for? How much hydrochloric acid is an acceptable amount in drinking water?

[mle292.livejournal.com]

I admit that my knowledge of water treatment plants is lacking.

I mean to ask - What specifically are they for in a water treatment plant? I think there are less dangerous cleaning agents.

[kaustin.livejournal.com]

This certainly does inspire confidence in the safety and quality of the Minneapolis water supply. "Honey, come here and taste this water! Does it taste more like they've dumped thousands of gallons of hydrochloric acid, or hundreds of gallons of caustic soda into the water supply today?"

[kaustin.livejournal.com]

I think they're mostly used to dispose of corpses. You really don't want to get on the bad side of the Minneapolis Department of Public Works. They're like Murder Inc. without the catchy nickname.

[mle292.livejournal.com]

Thanks for clearing that up. ;P

I used to work on a Patch and Repair crew for the City of Minneapolis, and we never once disposed of a body (as far as you know).

[kaustin.livejournal.com]

Of course! Someone says "So what exactly is an exothermic reaction?" And you say to yourself "Well, I've got 6000 gallons of hydrochloric acid and 500 gallons of caustic soda. Why don't I show them what an exothermic reaction is? It will stick in their mind so much better than if I were to merely explain it to them." Stuff like that happens all the time. The only reason I don't give in to such temptations is that, unlike most people, I don't have a proper containment vessel for such a reaction so I'm worried it might stain the rug.

[quadong.livejournal.com]

I'm going to guess that they were trying to dispose of both of them (let's see here, chemistry, right, I used to know that, so: HCl + NaOH -> H20 + NaCl) and the _rate_ at which they mixed them was the error.