Super-G Solvent?

water

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

Dissolving it won't remove it all. It my in fact spread it.

Any base, ammonium hydroxide, will degrade it. But just keeping water on it for a while will cause it to release. When it was first made we tricked people into sticking their finger and thumb together. After threatening that they would have to be cut apart we just soaked in water and the bond released.

Acetone

dissolving

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

I don't think dissolving is the way to remove it. Dissolving risks spreading it around and penetrating any porous parts. Better to degrade it and remove the degredation mechanically (scrub)

Most "granite" isn't, but it probably has silica anyway. The acidic silica should have initiated polymerization near instantly, so it probably has not penetrated. If the surface was basic like glass it would let go on its own in a few days.

Within a few days the water in your body will degrade into small molecular pieces the cured polymer trapped in a wound closure and you pee out the pieces. Don't need to break it down that much on the rock.

True...

John in NM

Leave a puddle on it for a few hours and it might just pop off in one piece with a little persuasion and a sharp chisel. That would be better than spreading the residue. I posted before reading yours, but I do think water is probably a better bet after reading what you said.

I've heard siliceous rocks called acidic before, though the term is very old and no longer used much. Is silica actually acidic?

Re: True...

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

I've heard siliceous rocks called acidic before, though the term is very old and no longer used much. Is silica actually acidic? yes and alumina rich rocks are basic.

It has to do with electron availability in regard to what chemistry can go on at the surface of these materials. It is nothing to do with hydrogen ions like one learns in elementary chem.

Aside....Thanks Bill....

Barry Irby

I have had a few places glued together after surgery and wondered how in the world the edges of the skin could grow back together through a layer of glue. Things that happen must be possible, but now I have an idea how. One thought I had was maybe they somehow applied the glue over the wound and not in it.

more on the role of glue

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

Cyanoacrylate, a chemist would know by its "ate" name) is an ester of acrylic acid. The glue we use is the ethyl ester. It is an irritant to flesh. Some other ester (butyl?) is used for the medical glue that was developed to be less of an irritant.

It's role is to stick the wound together until the body starts the permanent sticking. The glue breaks down into small molecule pieces and gets peed away in just the right amount of time.

This procedure was developed during Vietnam war to temporary stick battle wounds. Unsure if it would have been discovered/approved without this urgent need. I don't know who got the idea. It was not Kodak, the adhesive inventor and manufacturer. I helped explore some applications but they all failed.

Interesting

John in NM

That explains the origin of the terms perhaps. These days the nomenclature is felsic for siliceous rocks and mafic for Mg-Fe rich, silica depleted rocks, intermediate between the two. I haven't heard the acid-base thing since taking a class from a professor who started at U of A when my dad went there

I also wonder if this has something to do with how quartz polishes so differently from other silicates.... just speculating of course, but it can be a tricky minderal to polish well. Cerium oxide on plexiglass is how it's typically done, which works well for a lot of silicates, but Alumina on tin works well for just about everything except quartz. Both methods clearly have a chemical action as much or more than abrasive, and it can be seen in what looks like a flow patter on a poorly done facet of quartz.

Re: Aside....Thanks Bill....

Hank Knight

My doctor told me to pull a wound together and apply the glue over the skin surface of the wound, not in it. I'm sure some glue gets into the wound that way, but would be eliminated as Bill described.

I wish I'd know about using water to release the bond. Several years ago I was gluing something at my workbench. The spout on my cyanoacrylate glue bottle was clogged, so I squeezed the bottle harder. Nothing happened, so I squeezed even harder. Blockage released suddenly and I flooded my hand and the workpiece with glue, effectively gluing myself to my workbench. Fortunately, my debonder was within reach and I was able to free myself, but not before suffering some minor blistering from the heat released form the curing glue. It's amazing the variety of accidents one can have in the workshop.

Re: Aside....Thanks Bill....

Barry Irby

I know someone who glued his finger to his eyelid. His wife took him to the emergency room. They thought it was pretty funny.