Greetings,

Could I preserve my chemicals by using a protective "blanket" of carbon dioxide gas? I have tons of it from my old beer brewing days.

Cheers! Ken

-- Kenneth Bruno (salmon70@hotmail.com), February 14, 2002

Answers

The usual answer is nitrogen or argon. CO2 might work, or might react and change the composition a bit. I'd be wary because bubbling CO2 through solutions is a way to change carbonates to bicarbonates (so I'm told).

-- Conrad Hoffman (choffman@rpa.net), February 14, 2002.

Kenneth, CO2 dissolves in water to make carbonic acid (H2CO3). It's like seltzer water and it's acidic. It will react with (neutralize) the alkaline component (accelerator) in developers. I wouldn't recommend using CO2.

-- Linas Kudzma (lkudzma@compuserve.com), February 14, 2002.