Monday, July 28, 2008

negative log of what, exactly?

I love the show How It's Made. But tonight, I was annoyed. They were showing how aluminum cans are made. Nothing too fancy. What I did find interesting is that after the can is made, it is rinsed out with hydrofluoric acid. The acid etches away some of the metal and any aluminum oxide as a way of preparing it for the sprayed on can liner. The sprayed on can liner puts a barrier between my beer and the aluminum metal.

OK, so what annoyed me? The narrator said that after the acid bath, the cans were rinsed 4 times with deionized water "which does not have a pH."

For those of you in the know, I'm sure you will join in my annoyance with how basic chemical concepts have been totally ignored.

For those who don't know what I'm talking about, don't worry. I'm going to write a post about it in a day or two.

1 comment:

MJenks said...

I think I've seen that one before, and when the "water doesn't have a pH", I went "Huh?"

Usually when I utter the "Huh" of death, my kids gather around for some sciencey type explanation. I'm pretty sure my daughter came and asked me "What's wrong this time, daddy?"

Oh, youth.