Sodium hydroxide, the solid is a white solid. Corrosive to metals and tissues. Used for chemical manufacturing, petroleum refining, cleaning compounds, drain pipe cleaning.
White or nearly white particles, flakes, rods, frits, or other forms. Solutions are clear or slightly turbidity, colorless or slightly pigmented, highly corrosive and hygroscopic, and when exposed to air, they absorb carbon dioxide and form sodium carbonate
10% sodium hydroxide forms a strong alkaline and corrosive solution. As a corrosive agent, it is used to destroy organic tissue through chemical action.
Strong alkaline chemicals destroy soft body tissues, leading to deep penetrating burns, as opposed to caustic chemicals, which cause more superficial damage through chemical means or inflammation. Caustic soda is usually a hydroxide of light metals. Sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide are the most widely used caustics in industry. In medicine, they are used externally to remove diseased or dead tissue and to destroy warts and small tumors. Accidental ingestion of products (household and industrial) containing corrosive ingredients causes thousands of injuries each year.
There is no quantitative data on the absorption of sodium hydroxide through the skin. A solution containing 50% sodium hydroxide proved caustic and lethal on the skin of mice.
Ammonium hydroxide penetrates the fastest, followed by sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, and finally calcium hydroxide.
Due to the high alkalinity of sodium hydroxide, in aqueous solution, it directly leads to protein bond breaking (especially disulfide bond bridge). Hair and nails will dissolve after 20 hours of direct contact with sodium hydroxide with a pH higher than 9.2. Sodium hydroxide has a hair removal effect and has been described after accidental exposure to solutions in the workplace. Breaking of the bond in the protein may result in severe necrosis at the smear site. The degree of corrosion depends on the time of contact with the tissue and the concentration of sodium hydroxide.
In inorganic chemistry, sodium hydroxide is used to make sodium salts for alkaline ore digestion and pH regulation.
Industrial production of sodium hydroxide is mainly through electrolysis of sodium chloride. This will produce a sodium hydroxide solution, the mass ratio of chlorine to hydrogen
