cooking thermometer reading celsiius and farenheit 11 Concentrate Nitric Acid ?

Chris,Nothing appears wrong with yours a first glance, except in mine I'm not l eaving any Hydrogenbehind as follows:H2SO4 + 2 NaNO3 -->Na2SO4+ 2HNO3The big dif ference in my recipie is the solubility of the sodium sulfate salt (as opposed t osodium hydrogen sulfate you produce) and the fact that my equation yields twice the nitricacid at a higher temperature ( no dry ice, just salted ice ).I've run the numbers like you did and ended up with about 160 mL of 50% nitric (give or takea few percent) for a single mole of 96% sulfuric and using 100mL H2O to diss olve the nitre.I won't bore everyone with the math, but here's my summary (PM me to see all the factors Iused to derive this reaction):Reaction:-Bring 100 mL of Distilled Water in a 500 mL pyrex beaker to 100 C-Add the Nitre of your choice (202 gm K / 170 gm Na)-Stir until Nitre is completely dissolved, let cool below boiling-SLOWLY add 56 mL conc (96%+) Sulfuric Acid to Hot Nitre solution while s tirring, DON'Tallow the solution to boil!-Allow solution to cool to room temp(DO NOT SKIP - VESSEL WILL SHATTER IF PUT ON ICEWHILE HOT!!!) -When vessel reaches room temp (25 C) put the vessel in the freezer or on a salt water icebath-Let sta nd until temperature of mixture reaches -5 C-Let stand at -5 C until all percipita te settles-Pour the COLD solution off into glass container with tightly sealed l idDO NOT POUR OFF ANYOF THE SALT IN THE BOTTOM!!! -Makes ~160 mL ~50% HNO3K= Potassium NA= Sodium This acid in turn can be used to make true AR with the standard 4:1 recipie (HCl :HNO3) I used Sodium Nitrate (16%) and contcentrated sulfuric acid (battery acid from N APA) that Iboilded down to Specific Gravity of 1.8 Grams per 1 ML. I found that commerical battery acidis 65% H2O and 35% of 98% Concentrated H2SO4. I measured the SG of the the Battery acidand found it to be 1.25 SG and then boiled 1000 ml of the battery acid down to 360 ML andremeasured the SG and it came out to be 1 .80 SG per 1 ml. 1.84 sp per 1ml at 25`C wouldhave been 98%. Unfortunately I don t have any specilized laboratory equipment for precisemeasuring of the specific gravity and concentration precentage of this H2SO4, but mycalculations puts it i n the 90+ % range.Catfish You are absolutely correct about the boiling temp of H 2SO4, My book sez 338C or 640.4F at98.3%.I heat the NAPA battery acid in a pyrex bowl on a hot plate out side. I also place the hot plateand all in a foot tub i n case of breakage. (this also keeps the wind from effecting the heat) Iheat the H2SO4 at 230` F with a good quality thermometer, monitoring the temp at all tim es.My objective is to reduce the h20 only. When I start this process, I weigh 1. 0 ml of batteryacid in 10 ml test tube on my gold scales after zeroing the scale with an empty test tube. I lso then weigh 1 ml of distilled water and determine the Specific gravity of it which alwayscomes out to be 1.0 SG. I always come up with 1.20 to 1.25 SG on NAP A battery acid. This isabout 65% h2o and 35% H2SO4. Keep in mind I dont have a p ycnometer to a be able tomake a precise measurement. But this is close enough fo r me. Also I don't crank in the tempcorrection factor of .0023.It takes me about 1 hour to boil off the required amount of water. At 230 degrees it willeventual ly stop boiling and condensing. There are never any odors that come from thispro cess. After it cools to room temp, I then take 1 ml again and weigh on gold scal es. It justabout always comes up to 1.8 + or - .1, specific gravity. Keep in min d my scale has a + or -accuraticy of .1 gram. I then measure the volume of the r emaining acid and it usually comesout to about 360 ml + or - 10ml, when I do a 1 000ml in a batch.I have done several different batches of different volumes and they all come out the same.Just the boiling times are different. I have no way t o actually measure the precent of concentration of the remaining sulfuric acid. All I can do is determine the approximate precentcomputation by using the formul a of 1.84 SG at 98.3% concentration., and do the math tocome up with my precenta

ge of concentration.You have heard the term, " necessity is the motherhod of inv ention". Well I dont like all theadditives and inhibitors in the drain cleaners and this is the reason I came up with thismethod. I buy the NAPA battery acid fo r $4.80 plus tax for 1.5 gallons. This will make about 2quarts of pure 90+ % con centrated sulfuric acid for my cell and to make Nitric acidRegular battery acid is 65% water (H2O) and 35% sulfuric acid (H2SO4). This computes to1.25 grams spe cific gravity per cubic cm or 1 ml. (Often referred to as 1250 specific gravity. )This is only 1.25 x 1000ml, another way of saying it.Distilled water is 1.0 gra ms specific gravity per cubic cm or 1 ml.98.3% pure sulfuric acid weighs 1.84 gr ams specific gravity per 1ml.Heat required = mass x specific heat x temperature change. 1 gram of water (H2O) takes 1calorie to change the temperature 1 degree C.Water (H2O) boils at 212 F or 100 C.Sulfuric acid (H2SO4) boils at 640.4 F or 338 C.To make concentrated sulfuric acid:Take 100 ml of battery acid and place i n a heat resistant container, Pyrex or equivalent andheat on a hot plate or equi valent heat source. Preferably out doors.Weigh 1 ml of distilled H2O in a 10ml t est tube or equivalent container on a small electronicscale in grams with at lea st + or 1/10th gram accuracy. This should weigh 1.0 grams.Remember to zero your meter with empty test tube on it in-order to get an accurate specificgravity wei ght.