Ugh.. what did I just do?

[mechanolatry]

OK, I just accidentally dropped the clasp on my thermometer into my lye. Not knowing what it's made of, I quickly scooped it out and threw it into some water. And the water turned blue! So I'm thinking it was aluminum, right? So here's my problem. If you accidentally dropped some aluminum into your lye, is the lye ruined?? I really need to figure this out before I bother mixing my lye into my oils! help?

 

[Guest]

I would continue as usual, but thats just me. i love doing things just to see what will happen, lol. i would guess though that if your lye was concentrated enough, it may have been viscous enough to just adhere to the clip and not deteriorate in the solution... or at least not that much if you scooped it out quickly. all just guesses though...

 

[mechanolatry]

That's what I figured too. I checked and there didn't seem to be any sediment in my lye, so I crossed my fingers and used it. My soap came to trace like normal, so everything seems ok. If I notice any problems with this batch in the future, I will post here with updates! :mrgreen:

 

[Lindy]

I so wouldn't recommend that.... if it was aluminium and it was in your lye there is probably going to be something left behind. If this is just going to be for your own use, well do what you like, but for heavens sake you really should be thinking safety here and not seeing what aluminium in your lye water will do.... :Kitten Love:

 

[sudbubblez]

I think its fine. I've watched lye eat aluminum, as well as tinfoil. It takes hours for it to eat a hole in tinfoil. I think there was almost nothing left behind if you swiftly removed the item.

 

[mechanolatry]

Just to explain, this isn't a batch that I would sell. It's just a test batch for a new recipe.

 

[mechanolatry]

I think its fine. I've watched lye eat aluminum, as well as tinfoil. It takes hours for it to eat a hole in tinfoil. I think there was almost nothing left behind if you swiftly removed the item.

Did it turn bluish? I'm wondering now if it was a reaction because I was getting pretty messy with my ultramarine blue dye.

 

[Guest]

if there was a reaction in your lye, you would have seen it. when lye reacts with aluminum it deteriorates the aluminum and creates hydrogen peroxide. i havent tried it myself, but if sudbubblez has seen it take a long time to deteriorate simple aluminum foil, i seriously doubt you had any reaction in your lye. the clips are much more solid than the foil. i didnt read back, but i think you said you saw nothing in your lye but did when you dropped it in water? this most likely means no reaction in lye but a short lived one in the water-but im pretty sure the clip would deteriorate with a grey color-and the blue may have been from the ultramarine-unless of course there was another metal in the clip which reacted and turned blue... but you would have seen something in your lye...

 

[sudbubblez]

I don't remember anything bluish but it made a lot of noise.... like a small animal playing with foil or evan a crackling fire. the end product was black and greyish. I listened to this noise for quite a while untill I went to investigate found it was lye eating foil.

 

[Hazel]

when lye reacts with aluminum it deteriorates the aluminum and creates hydrogen peroxide. i havent tried it myself, but if sudbubblez has seen it take a long time to deteriorate simple aluminum foil, i seriously doubt you had any reaction in your lye. ...

I'm not a chemist by I want to mention the combination of aluminum and lye produces hydrogen gas not hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen gas is flammable and to quote Wikipedia "Hydrogen gas forms explosive mixtures with air if it is 4–74% concentrated and with chlorine if it is 5–95% concentrated. The mixtures spontaneously explode by spark, heat or sunlight".

This is why it's been repeatedly stated on this forum not to use aluminum pans or utensils for soap making. Yes, it might take awhile for NaOH to eat through aluminum but why even take the chance of creating hazardous conditions?

eta: I forgot to mention - hydrogen gas also explodes in a closed container.

 

[Guest]

good catch and thank you hazel. ive been playing with peroxide for a couple days and have it 'on the brain'.

 

[Hazel]

Actually, I didn't catch it. Someone else noticed it and asked me about it. So, I browsed on over to see what it actually said.

I do that, too. You wouldn't believe how many times I've written a reply and then realized the person isn't talking about CP but MP or is asking about oils for lotions. I've had to go back and edit or delete many times.

 

[Guest]

i hear ya. such is life... thank you for checking and posting it then. as an aside, the lye/aluminum thing is kind of neat though... you can run engines off it.