Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

As a long time Hazmat officer I can tell you that there are very few substances scarier to work with than hydrofluoric acid. I met people who had severe injuries after they had exposures. The biggest problem is that once it is absorbed in your body... it causes severe problems with your bones and can also cause heart failure.

One person I met had to have his arm below the elbow amputated after a pin prick in his glove caused an exposure. The exposure was not painful or noticed to begin with, but by the next day he had a severe problem. Despite receiving treatment after that the problems kept getting worse.

1 posted on 05/07/2022 7:51:09 AM PDT by fireman15
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies ]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-33 next last
To: fireman15

Yeah, but it’s for the environment.


2 posted on 05/07/2022 7:52:38 AM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: fireman15

Yeah, this is the stuff you want if you need to get rid of a body with no chance that there will be anything left, not even the teeth. Nasty stuff.

However, normal car batteries also usually contain acid, sulfuric acid I believe. So you should always be careful around a leaking battery, even if it’s not an electric/hybrid battery.


3 posted on 05/07/2022 7:54:47 AM PDT by Boogieman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: fireman15

Teflon can generate significant concentrations of HF if overheated (above 500°F).


4 posted on 05/07/2022 7:55:03 AM PDT by Steely Tom ([Voter Fraud] == [Civil War])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: fireman15

Our materials science professor warned us about this stuff—you have to use it to etch titanium alloys for visualization under the electron microscope.

He warned to be careful or it will rot your bones. You are right.


5 posted on 05/07/2022 7:57:15 AM PDT by packagingguy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: fireman15

The huge amount of lithium ion battery waste that will be the result of both electric vehicles and electronic gadgets is going to cause severe problems in the future. Of course the amount of lithium ion battery waste from an electric vehicles is thousands of time greater than that from a cell phone or laptop.

But this is a reminder to properly dispose of the old lithium ion batteries from your old gadgets... They can be very detrimental to your health under the wrong circumstances.


6 posted on 05/07/2022 7:57:22 AM PDT by fireman15 (Irritating people are the grit from which we fashion our pearl. I provide the grit. You're Welcome.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: fireman15

I worked at a chemical plant that used a lot of it.

You don’t even know you got some on you until your bones start to dissolve.


7 posted on 05/07/2022 7:57:37 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Your bat-excrement crazy mental illness does not impose an obligation upon me to deny reality.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: fireman15

900lbs and Toxic


8 posted on 05/07/2022 8:00:22 AM PDT by butlerweave
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: fireman15

I use to haul that by the truckload back in my 20’s. Complete neoprene suit, gloves, boots and hood when hooking up hoses when unloading.


9 posted on 05/07/2022 8:01:32 AM PDT by eastforker (All in, I'm all Trump,what you got!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: fireman15

I trust NOTHING the government pushes.

In fact, if the government pushes it, I avoid it.

The basic purpose of government is to kill - a good central government is there to kill enemy invaders externally and let local government deal with the crimes of their own citizens.

Government is NEVER designed to care for you and “love” you. Free individuals take care of themselves and each other for stuff like that.

Fascist and totalitarian governments rise only among an ignorant and gullible populace.


10 posted on 05/07/2022 8:02:08 AM PDT by Jim W N (MAGA by restoring the Gospel of the Grace of Christ (Jude 3) and our Free Constitutional Republic!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: fireman15

Oh my goodness! When can we read about this in the NYT, WSJ, or see it on ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC?

Somebody needs to call Bill Gates or Anthony Fauci. They will take care of it — pronto.


11 posted on 05/07/2022 8:03:08 AM PDT by icclearly
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: fireman15

What the chemical reaction chain from a LiOH battery overheating and the fluoride ion?


12 posted on 05/07/2022 8:06:11 AM PDT by Robert A Cook PE (Method, motive, and opportunity: No morals, shear madness and hatred by those who cheat.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: fireman15

I had a lab class in college where we were creating simple LEDs and transistors on silicon where we had to handle HF. The instructor recommended washing thoroughly after handling, even with gloves, to avoid injuries. You don’t know if you have HF affecting you until it is too late.

The lab had some graphic B&W images of HF injuries. Needless to say, we spent a lot of time washing afterwards.


13 posted on 05/07/2022 8:06:19 AM PDT by kosciusko51
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: fireman15

The EV train has left the station and there is no stopping it.

Just like any potential problems with the Covid vaccine were brushed aside.

The witch doctors in the old Tarzan movies were better scientists than what we have today.


14 posted on 05/07/2022 8:07:02 AM PDT by alternatives? (The only reason to have an army is to defend your borders.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: fireman15

Hmm. What would you do if brand name batteries, aka Duracell, Everready, were leaking BEFORE the use by date. Never used, just toxicly leaking out in packaging.

I have this quite often.


15 posted on 05/07/2022 8:07:21 AM PDT by George from New England
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: fireman15

As always, the propaganda about electric cars intentionally hides the negative effects. So the public believes the nonsense about electric cars, worships at the altar of “the environment” and buys they cars.

Much later the harmful effects are “discovered”, but it’s too late.


20 posted on 05/07/2022 8:20:56 AM PDT by I want the USA back (Government, when allowed to expand, always ends up using its power, and our $, to protect its power.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: fireman15

This is all anyone, considering an EV purchase, needs to know:

“Hydrofluoric acid is a solution of hydrogen fluoride in water. A colorless liquid, hydrofluoric acid is highly corrosive – it can dissolve glass! – and is extremely toxic. If it comes into contact with our skin or eyes, it can cause severe chemical burns that are very painful and slow to heal. If left untreated, it is absorbed into the body’s tissues and bones causing their destruction. It interferes with our body’s calcium metabolism and contact with concentrated hydrofluoric acid can result in systemic toxicity, cardiac arrest and even death.”


21 posted on 05/07/2022 8:21:33 AM PDT by Carriage Hill (A society grows great when old men plant trees, in whose shade they know they will never sit.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: fireman15

But EVs are perfect. Nothing ever goes wrong with them, and they never need maintenance,and they are immune from damage in wrecks. And when the batteries reach the end of use (10 or more years), they magically just disappear and another one can be bought for a steal.

There are plenty of shills, er, EV owners here spouting this BS every time someone mentions the dark side of EVs.


28 posted on 05/07/2022 8:49:46 AM PDT by wrench
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: fireman15

I’ve used HF to etch cut rock surfaces. Scary, scary stuff. The lab protocol was to wash hands, arms, and face very thoroughly with soap and lots of water immediately after using any amount of HF, no matter what PPE you were wearing. Then I’d go straight home or to the gym and take a long shower.


29 posted on 05/07/2022 8:52:16 AM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: fireman15

If it can eat Mike Ehrmantraut and Crazy Eight, it can eat you, too…


30 posted on 05/07/2022 8:57:54 AM PDT by Magnatron
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: fireman15

Yes, there is some possible hydrofluoric acid in li batteries.

But not much.

Should I throw out my toothbrush? Laptop? Cellphone?...
What would be a safe quantity?

Oh, the humanity!

Effect of trace hydrofluoric acid in a LiPF6 electrolyte on the performance of a Li–organic battery with an N-heterocycle based conjugated microporous polymer as the cathode

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2019/ta/c9ta01810g#:~:text=Abstract,acid%20(%E2%88%BC20%20ppm).


31 posted on 05/07/2022 8:58:26 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT ("The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!"Dien Bien Phu last message)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-33 next last

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson