Subject:
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Universal solvent (was Re: RCX 'brick connectors' and how-they-work??
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.geek
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Date:
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Tue, 14 Sep 1999 17:13:03 GMT
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Viewed:
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193 times
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In lugnet.robotics, Terry King writes:
> [...] I tried removing / attacking the plastic a bit with 'GoofOff'
> which is close to the universal solvent (You can't HAVE a
> universal solvent: what would you KEEP it in??) [...]
Another (and somewhat more relevant) reason you can't have a universal solvent
is that there is a significant "polar/nonpolar" issue in the action of
solvents. Water is polar, and something like heptane (C7H16, found in gasoline)
is nonpolar. The alcohols are inbetween, the shorter ones like methanol (CH3OH)
are more polar and longer ones like propyl alcohol (CH3CH2CH2CH2OH) are less
polar.
Anyway, there are some things (like salt, NaCl) that dissolve in polar solvents
but not in nonpolar solvents, and there are other things (like dry paint) that
dissolve in nonpolar solvents but not in polar solvents.
Goof Off (tm) is xylene (or more technically, xylol, a mixture of the three
isomers of xylene), a benzene ring with two CH3's. It is quite nonpolar.
- Robert Munafo http://www.mrob.com/
LEGO: TC+++(8480) SW++ #+ S-- LS++ Hsp M+ A@ LM++ YB64m IC13
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