Question

What precautions should you take when working with strong acids?

Answer 1

The following are the general precautions when handling the strong acids

1. Wear always surgical gloves when handling the bottles of strong acid. Gloves are important when you want to transfer the acid from the storage bottle to glass ware.

2. One should always wear safety glasses and lab coat when dealing with acids.

3. Try to use fume hoods with good exaust when handling the strong acids.

4. use pippet fillers when you want to transfer the acid from one vessel to another.

5. When you want to dilute the acid, pour the acid into the water, NOT water into acid . Pouring water into acid is highly exothermic reaction and can cause spattering of the acid beacuse of local heating.

6. Plan you work and how much acid to handle and steps to handle it for a given purpose.

7. In case of any spillage on the skin or eyes, first clean the area on the skin/eye with running water and in case of burns approach the first aid and then the medical aid.

8. In case of chemical spills on the floor, inform the lab superviser.