Battery Acid

So I had a truck battery in the trunk of my car and it tipped over and leaked out some awful smelling acid (sulfuric?). I’ve neutralized it with baking soda, and there is almost no smell; which tells me the acid is probably gone. So my question for the internet guru’s out there: would you ever throw your gear in the trunk of your car again? Is my gear now relegated to bins or some other container if it’s in the trunk?

You should drive the car to the junk lot right now! Just kidding, but I would be careful.

I would even be hesitant to store it in a bin in the trunk, but I am pretty paranoid about that kinda stuff. If I did use a bin, it would be one that sorta sealed.

You could always buy some pH testing strips from a pool store to test your neutralization idea. It seems like you could dampen the affected area, then soak the strip and see what happens.

I would never ever put any gear in that trunk again. Seriously. It's not worth taking the chance. And your stuff doesn't have to come in contact with the liquid acid -- the fumes can also do damage. There's no way to know for sure if you got it all or not.

Richard Radcliffe wrote:There's no way to know for sure if you got it all or not.

Exactly. You just can't know if every single drop got neutralized unless you test every single section, which is pretty tedious. If you really want to put stuff in your trunk still. I'd take it to a professional car cleaner/get the carpeting in trunk replaced. Simpler and cheaper? Store it in a bin.

Better take the mat out and replace it or really soak it in baking soda solution. Then do the same to the trunk. To test it use litmus strips to see what is going on.

If you store ropes in the trunk again, make sure they are bagged.

blackdiamondequipment.com/u…

BD analysis of a rope that broke under a low impact fall due to sulfuric acid contamination.

Batteries typically contain 30% sulfuric acid. It is not very volatile, which means it doesn't evaporate very well, so even if you neutralize it and "air out" the trunk there may be some left. What kind of covering is in your trunk? Carpet? The pH is not a good indicator of safety. Many reactions with H2SO4 catalyst require only drops to push the reaction. The comment about fumes is spot on - the vapor is enough to degrade nylon.

While a lot of the "throw your gear out if touches _____" are perhaps over-hyped, sulfuric acid is NOT. It is a incredibly corrosive and reactive compound, reacts violently with water, has the potential to catlyze the formation of various explosive organic peroxides, eats metal... the list goes on.

In short, don't take a chance on this one. If it matters to you, I am a chemist, and for what its worth, spent the morning disposing of about 15 gallons of sulfuric acid waste (of the ever-so-pleasant 98% variety).

be VERY careful in and around that stuff. I had jury rigged a battery to stay in place with some wire-cable in an old truck and it accidentally crossed both connection points, which heated up the wire, melted through the plastic, and then spilled all the acid out. wherever it splattered on the ground and left drops on our clothes, it ate through the nylon/cotton immediately.
i wouldn't put anything you'd trust your life with into that trunk. or if you feel confident in your neutralizing, at least make sure nothing goes directly in there, keep it all in plastic bins.

Thanks for all the replies! And especially that link Peter! I figured that this was the case but just wanted to make sure I'm being too anal retentive about it.

Anyone want to buy a 2005 Nissan Sentra with 80k miles? :)

johnL wrote: Was it a wet battery from a motorcycle? I think I'd have to shoot the battery in my van with a gun to make it leak.

Long story short, I bought a battery to power a stereo system a few weeks ago and was charged a 20 dollar fee because I didn’t have one to trade out. They said they’d give me the 20 bucks back if I brought a battery for disposal. I picked up an old battery and it leaked when it tipped over cause I was driving like an asshole. Furthermore, I didn't realize it for a few days until my car was completely permeated by the odor...

Chris Drover wrote:Batteries typically contain 30% sulfuric acid. It is not very volatile, which means it doesn't evaporate very well, so even if you neutralize it and "air out" the trunk there may be some left. What kind of covering is in your trunk? Carpet? The pH is not a good indicator of safety. Many reactions with H2SO4 catalyst require only drops to push the reaction. The comment about fumes is spot on - the vapor is enough to degrade nylon. While a lot of the "throw your gear out if touches _____" are perhaps over-hyped, sulfuric acid is NOT. It is a incredibly corrosive and reactive compound, reacts violently with water, has the potential to catlyze the formation of various explosive organic peroxides, eats metal... the list goes on. In short, don't take a chance on this one. If it matters to you, I am a chemist, and for what its worth, spent the morning disposing of about 15 gallons of sulfuric acid waste (of the ever-so-pleasant 98% variety).

Do you know what the molarity is of sulfuric acid in a fully discharged battery? Obviously in a fully charged battery the acid will do much more damage, but if there was a low enough molarity of the sulfuric acid couldn't it be neutralized safely?

EDIT: I may have my electrochemistry backwards, I can't quite remember. Hmmmm. Time to hit the books again.

rough Eddie! I'm with the consensus; don't put any climbing gear back there. Throw that mat out. It's not worth the chance. bummer

Evan, my thought is that the exactness of the reaction, or what stage it may have been in, really doesn't matter here; just gut and decon the trunk, and replace the carpeting.

Mark Nelson wrote:Evan, my thought is that the exactness of the reaction, or what stage it may have been in, really doesn't matter here; just gut and decon the trunk, and replace the carpeting.

Good point. I was more curious than trying to give an opinion though.

Evan Sanders wrote: Do you know what the molarity is of sulfuric acid in a fully discharged battery? Obviously in a fully charged battery the acid will do much more damage, but if there was a low enough molarity of the sulfuric acid couldn't it be neutralized safely? EDIT: I may have my electrochemistry backwards, I can't quite remember. Hmmmm. Time to hit the books again.

Honestly I don't know, I work mostly with petroleum chemistry and dielectric fluids. However, you can safely neutralize even 98% sulfuric as long as you do it right, the point was that the stuff absorbed into the carpet isn't going to just evaporate off like something more volatile would (for example, acetone).

Anyways it can certainly be done, if it was me I'd do something like johnL listed. Treat it like Ebola virus and you'll be okay.

Older model BMWs have the battery compartment right in the damned trunk in case you guys didn't know.