Sodium Bicarbonate
Wayne
What's the difference between Sodium Bicarbonate (Arm and Hammer
Baking Soda) and 'Heat Treated' Sodium Bicarbonate (the stuff in
Alka-Seltzer). And, is the difference what causes the Alka-Seltzer to
react and disolve in water?
If the difference is not what causes the reaction then what does?
Does anyone have a source for esentially bulk 'Alka-seltzer' without
the medicine?
TIA
Wayne
Wds...@cyberhighway.net
Dr Ivan D Reid, muSR Facility
>Questions for the group....
>What's the difference between Sodium Bicarbonate (Arm and Hammer
>Baking Soda) and 'Heat Treated' Sodium Bicarbonate (the stuff in
>Alka-Seltzer). And, is the difference what causes the Alka-Seltzer to
>react and disolve in water?
I don't believe the product in question is available here, but
wouldn't "heat-treated" NaHCO3 be NaOH? (Think poppadums or prawn crackers...)
>If the difference is not what causes the reaction then what does?
Alka-Selzer is almost certainly a mixture of a carbonate and an acid,
which react in water to give CO2, probably with an excess of carbonate (again,
I can't check myself, but that is what all similar products I have come
across have been -- citric acid is common as the acid component).
>Does anyone have a source for esentially bulk 'Alka-seltzer' without
>the medicine?
Bicarb is a good and cheap carbonate. If you want the fizz, try
to source some citric acid powder. Hmm, I wonder if ascorbic acid would
do the trick?
--
Ivan Reid, Paul Scherrer Institute, CH. http://musr0.psi.ch/ re...@psi.ch
Joe Cummings
Facility) wrote:
>In article <76sard$1uu$1...@news.cyberhighway.net>, Wayne wrote:
>>Questions for the group....
>
>>What's the difference between Sodium Bicarbonate (Arm and Hammer
>>Baking Soda) and 'Heat Treated' Sodium Bicarbonate (the stuff in
>>Alka-Seltzer).
> Alka-Selzer is almost certainly a mixture of a carbonate and an acid,
>which react in water to give CO2, probably with an excess of carbonate (again,
>I can't check myself, but that is what all similar products I have come
>across have been -- citric acid is common as the acid component).
>
>
>--
>Ivan Reid, Paul Scherrer Institute, CH. http://musr0.psi.ch/ re...@psi.ch
I used to make a cheap Alka-Seltzer by mixing citric acid or lemon
juice with a solution of sodium bicarb. I'd add aspirin if I needed
to.
Some people use bicarb. as an ant-acid, but it is addictive. I
remember a publican in my home town who used to consume two 4oz. drums
of the stuff a day. He isn't around any longer.
Joe Cummings
Roman A Kresinski
Here they say that certain potatoes store better if they have some soil
clinging to them. This may be true, but some years ago I heard (TV) of a
woman who bought these potatoes *because of* their soil.
Casey Donovan wrote:
> joe...@globalnet.co.uk (Joe Cummings) wrote:
>
> >I used to make a cheap Alka-Seltzer by mixing citric acid or lemon
> >juice with a solution of sodium bicarb. I'd add aspirin if I needed
> >to.
>
> Sounds like a pretty good recipe.
> >
> >Some people use bicarb. as an ant-acid, but it is addictive. I
> >remember a publican in my home town who used to consume two 4oz. drums
> >of the stuff a day. He isn't around any longer.
>
> Small wonder. It's the sodium that leads physicians to proscribe
> table salt for patients prone to hypertension. 8 oz of sodium
> bicarb is something over 60 grams of sodium.
>
> An "addiction" for that much of any non-food item is called a
> pica. A common one in the US is for laundry starch. I've seen
> laundry workers eat it by the tablespoonful. It didn't seem to
> stop them when I mentioned that it had formaldehyde added as a
> preservative.
L. Smith
>
> Here they say that certain potatoes store better if they have some soil
> clinging to them. This may be true, but some years ago I heard (TV) of a
> woman who bought these potatoes *because of* their soil.
>
One can formulate a seltzer tablet by using sodium bicarbonate with
any of several powdered edible acids, but the trick is to have both
extremely dry.
If they are dry, then they do not react with each other to any great
degree. That is why the tablets are sealed in aluminum packets. As soon
as these powders become moist, the ionic neutralization can proceed, and
you get the fizz.
Ordinary bicarbonate is not necessarily dry enough to hold up in this
type of formulation. You can dry it in an oven by heating it. But,
if you heat it too long or too hot, you can convert it to sodium
carbonate (soda ash). Too alkaline for normal use.
Soda ash, or sodium carbonate, is normally what you get from wood ash.
Early Americans used this to make soap, in the preparation of hominy,
in the preparation of tortillas from corn flour, and numerous other
things.
The Norwegians use it to hydrate dried codfish - a Christmas favorite
called "lutefisk" or lye fish.
---
The other issue of dirt left on potatoes (God love Dan Quayle!) has been
proven over time. Unwashed potatoes hold up very well, while washed
potatoes rot rather quickly. It is very common here in Norway to buy
naturally soiled potatoes at the supermarket. I am sure I have read the
mechanism at some point, but don't remember the details now. Strange,
but true.
--
- Larry Smith
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