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As long as you gave it the tongue-test, you're good to go.

Watch out!! That gear might be ruined! The last acid I put in my mouth didn't have any taste either. No taste but there was definitely some kind of chemical on that paper.

Depends. How much is your life worth?

Sulfuric acid molar weight = 98.079 g/mol

.650 g/liter at maximum

.650 g/liter, 98.079g/mol = .00662 mol/L

Sulfuric acid = H2SO4 = 2 H+ for every molecule = .013 mol / L

pH = -log[.013 mol/L]

pH = 1.88 at worst

Repeating same for 60ppm gives 2.91.

It's been a while since my last chem class, so someone will have to check my math, but it looks like the solution should be fairly low pH, right? But that seems very low for water just chilling in an A/C unit?

By "mixture" do you mean the water + chemicals, or the undiluted chemical solution itself? It would change things if you meant the chemicals alone.

Bill Kirby wrote: Watch out!! That gear might be ruined! The last acid I put in my mouth didn't have any taste either. No taste but there was definitely some kind of chemical on that paper.

Ha! Good point. Did you see trails?

It's probably fine, but when you're at the crux, high above the ground, will you be thinking about the moves to finish the route or your gear?

I had an A/C chiller water leak, and the water got all over my climbing gear. The A/C chiller water is basically just... water. But it does contain a sulfuric acid and phosphoric acid solution to reduce mold contamination. The mixture is 650 PPM maximum, 60ppm typical, which amounts to 0.06% chemical maximum, or 1 gallon chemical to about 1500 gallons water maximum, and about 1 gallon chemical to 10,000 gallons water typical.

I put a PH strip in the water and it came out PH-neutral. I also put a bit of it on my tongue and it had no taste. So I am wondering if my gear might be fine since the chemical is so extremely diluted.

If you tested it pH neutral and tasted it pH neutral then your gear is probably fine. As a comparison lemon juice has a pH of about 2.5, i think.

Joe Virtanen wrote:Sulfuric acid molar weight = 98.079 g/mol .650 g/liter at maximum .650 g/liter, 98.079g/mol = .00662 mol/L Sulfuric acid = H2SO4 = 2 H+ for every molecule = .013 mol / L pH = -log[.013 mol/L] pH = 1.88 at worst Repeating same for 60ppm gives 2.91. It's been a while since my last chem class, so someone will have to check my math, but it looks like the solution should be fairly low pH, right? But that seems very low for water just chilling in an A/C unit? By "mixture" do you mean the water + chemicals, or the undiluted chemical solution itself? It would change things if you meant the chemicals alone.

This is clearly not a chemistry forum nor am I a chemist, but your numbers come out right but your math is wrong. Bascially you were off by two factors of almost 2… and they canceled. First, the pH will depend on the particular acid and its dissociation constant (how it dissociates in solution), not just how many hydrogen atoms are in the acid. So you should have had ~1.2g/L (since sulfuric acid is 1.85 g/cc, one factor of 2) with only ~1H+ (really H3O+) per H2SO4 (opposite factor of 2). If you were to calculate for phosphoric acid you would get a very different answer, since you get ~.01H per H3PO4.

I climbed on Acid, it was dangerous. I would sell the gear and find (a) jesus peace. Dibs!
Or you could do the old drop test....don't take 2 drops, you might see something!

Joe Virtanen wrote:Sulfuric acid molar weight = 98.079 g/mol .650 g/liter at maximum .650 g/liter, 98.079g/mol = .00662 mol/L Sulfuric acid = H2SO4 = 2 H+ for every molecule = .013 mol / L pH = -log[.013 mol/L] pH = 1.88 at worst Repeating same for 60ppm gives 2.91. It's been a while since my last chem class, so someone will have to check my math, but it looks like the solution should be fairly low pH, right? But that seems very low for water just chilling in an A/C unit? By "mixture" do you mean the water + chemicals, or the undiluted chemical solution itself? It would change things if you meant the chemicals alone.

Its not this simple.

You failed to account for pKa of the acid. H2S04 dissociates to HSO4- completely in water (strong acid), but the next proton (to go to S04 2-) has a pka of 1.92, meaning that at a pH of 1.92, 50% of the HSO4- will dissociate to S04-- and half will remain HS04-. This will also be different for Phosphoric acid.

Its been a long time since my chem classes, so I am not going to attempt a calculation (and in reality an exact calculation is not possible since we do not know what amount of acid is sulfuric and what amount is phosphoric- phosphoric acid is not a strong acid, it dissociates much less completely than sulfuric. Therefore, the percentage of each acid will WILDLY change the outcome, calculations here are silly). And I think it is a poor choice for the OP to trust internet chemists to decide his fate.

If it were me- if the pH paper is not expired and working correctly, then the pH is neutral. Test it on something else if you are unsure (lemon juice as suggested). If I were sure the pH paper were working, I would climb on it. But you need to decide what you are comfortable with.

Remember Todd Skinner? His harness failed after being well used but also a contributing factor was urine which is mildly acidic.

If the water is neutral pH I would suggest washing/soaking it with distilled water. I would do it a couple of times and call it good.

Joe Virtanen wrote: pH = 1.88 at worst Repeating same for 60ppm gives 2.91.

Correct me if I am wrong, but 60 ppm is equal to 0.06ml per L, which is less than one drop of acid in a 2L soda container. I dont see how adding that little of any substance to that much water would have any measurable effect on the pH of the water. I mean, that's basically like taking a piss in a swimming pool and testing the pH before and after the piss.

SDY wrote: Its not this simple. You failed to account for pKa of the acid. H2S04 dissociates to HSO4- completely in water (strong acid), but the next proton (to go to S04 2-) has a pka of 1.92, meaning that at a pH of 1.92, 50% of the HSO4- will dissociate to S04-- and half will remain HS04-. This will also be different for Phosphoric acid.

Knew I left something out! Oh well, had some nostalgic fun trying to do the chem math at least.

SDY wrote: This is clearly not a chemistry forum nor am I a chemist, but your numbers come out right but your math is wrong. Bascially you were off by two factors of almost 2… and they canceled.

Completely forgot the dissociation. Got lucky, the pH numbers at the end made sense so didn't worry about it.