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| organic god |
 Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 4:39 pm Post subject: Why are things corrosive |
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Forum Freshman
Joined: 06 Feb 2008
Posts: 85
Location: The Pro Chair
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I may have missed a chemistry lesson very early on in my school but i don't remember being told why things are harmful to the skin, more specifically why acids are bad for skin.
like acids are generally corrosive, strong acids more than weak acids, but why does fully dissacotiating into H+ make you corrosive. same as alkalis why does being a strong H+ acceptor make you corrosive. is there a reaction between H+ and skin, or is it a physical thing?
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| SteveF |
| Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 6:39 am Post subject: |
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Forum Senior
Joined: 28 May 2007
Posts: 367
Location: NC USA
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| It is not a case of proton acceptors or proton donors. Some chemical agents are corrosive to skin simply because they react with the proteins or the lipids that constitute skin structure. For example, alkalis can cause saponification of free carboxyl groups. |
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| i_feel_tiredsleepy |
| Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 8:46 am Post subject: |
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Forum Senior
Joined: 21 Mar 2008
Posts: 376
Location: Montreal
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| Strong acids and strong bases are highly reactive and can hydrolyse the ester bonds in the phospholipids that make up the cell membranes, thus destroying the cells. They also disrupt the pH which causes the proteins to misfold, and can hydrolyse the amide bonds in the proteins. So they are in general just destructive to most organisms. |
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| organic god |
| Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 1:31 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 06 Feb 2008
Posts: 85
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thanks guys, always been something that bugged me and i thought i should know.
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