calcium acetate

[Narelle01]

calcium acetate has popped up in my chemical stocktake.
It has a green sticker on it (DET)
I cannot find it on ther CSIS.
I googled it and understand it a bit more, but none of the names mentioned are in the CSIS...

now where???

[Labbie]

Try emailing richard.morante@det.nsw.edu.au he should be able to help you.

[Narelle01]

Thanks labbie - i have emailed him
But i can't help but think you are trying to get me into trouble with that cheeky little laughing dog...

[Ocker]

That's not a dog,
It's a LAB ra door

[Labbie]

its a lovely, cute, cuddy labbie-door.

[Narelle01]

so now i feel like I am in deeper trouble cause its a laughing LABBIE!!

Then again, I am always in the brown stuff - only the depth varies

[Labbie]

Not laughing at you, no way, laughing with you. Never deeper in trouble.

[Narelle01]

THIS IS THE RESPONSE I GOT:
*********************************
The chemical compound calcium acetate is the calcium salt of acetic acid. It has the formula Ca(C2H3O2)2. Its standard name is calcium acetate, while calcium ethanoate is the systematic IUPAC name. An older name is acetate of lime. The anhydrous form is very hygroscopic; therefore the monohydrate (Ca(CH3COO)2•H2O, CAS [5743-26-0]) is the common form.

If an alcohol is added to a saturated solution of calcium acetate, a semisolid, flammable gel forms that is much like "canned heat" products such as Sterno.[1] Chemistry teachers often prepare "California Snowballs", a mixture of calcium acetate solution and ethanol. The resulting gel is whitish in color, and can be formed to resemble a snowball.

.


From Wikipedia. Look for it under calcium ethanoate. I think it should be there. Green dot would be correct.
But my prob is now i cannot find that chemical in the CSIS...can anyone see it?

THANKS!

[Labbie]

I had a look, and NO i can not see it all.

[Narelle01]

thanks labbie, I emailed him back and said 'i can't find it' did i miss an update....

labbie was it you who did the table of ceoncentrations?
I need 1L of 0.25m of sodium thiosulphate....

I think i can wing it - bucket chemistry...

[Ian]

It does not seem to be in CSIS, but it carries a yellow banner in ChemGold/ChemFFX. I think that most yellow bannered chemicals tend to translate to a green dot in CSIS, don't they?

Ian

[Narelle01]

FURTHER REPLY:

NO PROBABLY NOT THERE. More importantly green dot is probably correct. Attached is an MSDS for your information. Not every chemical can be listed. If you don’t want this chemical, store it ready for disposal but keep the msds info with the waste until you get rid of it. Probably as old as the school and was used by a keen Chem teacher to demonstrate “snowballs”. You can buy this chemical to amuse kids in novelty stores. It isn’t required in the syllabus and the teacher is probably long gone. I probably would mark it for disposal at a future Chem waste pick up.



the chemical is unopened & written on it to say that it was bought in 2010 - so not throwing it out yet.....

I like investigating!!!!! I am yet to find a banned chemical - i thought I had the other day but 3 letters can make all the difference !!

[Rita]

Hi All

How would you go about making snowballs with it?

I've been asked by a teacher to find out what was in the "fake snow" so we could make our own. Thought it was a polymer and not easily made in class.

I have looked on e-bay for cheap fake snow for teacher but going rate is same as shop price.

If this is easy to prepare how would you go about making snowballs?

Rita

[Rowyrow]

the snow ball prac invoved mixing ethanol with the calcium acteta to form a jeely like ball rinsing it off and them setting it on fire. It's a demo to show ethanoll doesn't burn as hot as other things. once the snowball is on fire you can apparently play catch with it, so probably not very helpful for fake snow. they are known as california snow balls . Pretty sure you wouldnt do it anymore