Why do acids burn

Home arrow-right-small-blue Topics A—Z arrow-right-small-blue Chemical burns. Chemical burn is a burn to internal or external organs of the body caused by a corrosive or caustic chemical substance that is a strong acid or base also known as alkali.

Chemical burns are usually the result of an accident and can occur in the home, at school or more commonly, at work, particularly in manufacturing plants that use large quantities of chemicals. Very mild chemical burns result in irritant contact dermatitis. Chemical burn from a strong acid or alkali is also known as a caustic burn. Sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide — depending on the concentration — may be very corrosive.

Swallowing a solid pellet of an alkaline substance highlights the importance of these factors. The solid pellet sits in the stomach for a longer period, thus more severe burns sustained. Flush the area for at least 20 minutes.

Do not use a hard spray of water, because it can damage the burned area. Have the person with the burn remove the chemical substance if he or she is able. Put on gloves to protect yourself from the chemical, if you need to remove it. As you flush the area, take off any clothing or jewellery that has the chemical on it.

If the area still has a burning sensation after 20 minutes, flush the area again with flowing water for 10 to 15 minutes. Chemical burns not rinsed with water Some acid burns are made worse if rinsed flushed with water. Carbolic acid or phenol does not mix with water, so use alcohol first to flush the chemical off the skin and then flush with water.

If alcohol is not available, flush with a large amount of water. Do not flush the eye with alcohol. Sulfuric acid is flushed with a mild, soapy solution if the burns are not severe. Sulfuric acid feels hot when water is added to the acid, but it is better to flush the area and not leave the acid on the skin. Metal compounds are covered with mineral oil. Peter - So of course the burn that we're talking about here is actually just damage to the tissue. And that's the thing of course that our tissue can be relatively easily damaged.

An easy way to do this is to pick up something hot, and that's going to damage that tissue there. But actually you can get burns from, of course, cold things and so we were talking earlier about liquid air being extremely cold.

If you were to, certainly, tip your finger into liquid air and I do not recommend this for any period of time, you would destroy all the tissue there but a small splash on you may well cause a burn as well.

But of course, yes, you can indeed also get burnt by acid. Again this is just causing damage to the tissue. We normally have mechanisms to control very precisely the pH of the fluids in our tissue and so on, and adding concentrated acid is absolutely very far away from these normal conditions, which is why the damage is going to take place. But this is rather interesting, so tagging this on to the other question about the extremes of pH, actually it is possible to find incredibly acidic solutions in nature, and this is in certain mines notably ones that have pyrite.

So this is iron sulfide, a form of iron sulfide, with the chemical formula FeS2, and this reacts with oxygen and water and can produce incredibly strong powerful solutions of sulfuric acid.

It's called the Fire Stone which probably, is actually because you can use it to start fires by smashing into a flint, but actually there are also descriptions if you squeezed this tight in your hand it will burn it. Now of course maybe you are thinking that it's going to be burning in terms of because it's really hot and fiery, but actually it could burn your hands because the surface of this, again if there's moisture there and is reactive with the oxygen, could produce acid and so actually, you could get an acid burn from this mineral by holding it very tight.

So actually these acids do occur in nature and they can be incredibly strong. In fact some of the record pHs are at minus 3. Now this sounds very odd but a strong sort of laboratory sulfuric acid. It is important to treat the burn correctly to avoid further complications. Hydrofluoric acid is flushed with a large amount of water and treated with calcium gluconate. You need immediate medical care. The most important first aid for a chemical in the eye is to immediately flush the substance out with large amounts of water to reduce the chance of serious eye damage.

For any chemical burn to the eye, see the topic Burns to the Eye. Blahd Jr. Gabica MD - Family Medicine. Author: Healthwise Staff. Medical Review: William H.

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