Apples, pears and oranges Photo by Mark and Allegra Jaroski - Biava |
An alternate name for muriatic acid is
hydrochloric acid. A safe green substitute made of plants for this acid is
found in certain potions and mixtures from witch doctors. What they
actually used were some organic acids that are found in common plants. The two
most effective acids are citric acid and oxalic acid, but don’t underestimate
vinegar. In the course of things some of the other plant acids can also be used
including vitamin C whose technical name is ascorbic acid. Any other plant acid
will do..
Muriatic acid is used in the masonry
trade to wash off any staining on the face of the masonry or stone caused
by mortar used in a construction project. It is usually applied using a stiff
brush an area that has been scrubbed with the brush is washed off immediately
with clear water by starting to clean from the top of a structure and working
your way down to the bottom.
In order to use the green substitutes effectively you should
be wearing a bone through your nose along with some kind of feathers on your head.
It was actually the witch doctors that discovered this in the first place. Until
the invention of hydrochloric acid in the fifth century A.D. this was the only
way they had of cleaning masonry. Another organic acid that was used during the
pre-hydrochloric acid era was strong vinegar that is still used by many masons
for cleaning mortar staining off masonry today.
The most effective organic acids for the job are a mixture
of oxalic acid and citric acid these are easily made. Citric acid is nothing
more than lemon juice. Oxalic acid can be recovered by steeping rhubarb leaves
in boiling water like tea. Once you have extracted both of these acids from
plants they are mixed together. This is also applied to masonry using a stiff
brush to scrub with, and immediately afterwards the masonry is washed down with
clear water.
The reason these plant
acids are mixed is because oxalic acid itself will combine with the calcium
in the mortar forming an insoluble compound called calcium oxalate. The
addition of lemon juice to the oxalic acid works by the lemon juice keeping the
calcium oxalate in suspension rather than letting it cling to the surface of
the masonry being cleaned.
A mixture of oxalic and citric acid can also be used to
chemically bore holes in marble or limestone using a method that dates back to
antiquity.
References:
Hydrochloric Acid, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrochloric_acid
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