[snyder (OP)]

Hello. I read a thread in this forum about making rust for use in thermite. I put bleach and vinegar into a poland spring bottle (1:1 ratio) and stuck into the bottle an old steel tool I found in my garage. This tool was already starting to rust, so I figured it would be a good candidate. I let the reaction proceed for about 30 minutes, after which the solution turned black. I dumped out the solution and found that the tool only rusted a little bit. I tried it again, but instead left it overnight. It rusted a little bit more but it did not produce anything usable. What could I be doing wrong? I took a (very LARGE) picture of the tool after "rusting": newbielink:http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/8872/00001ne7.jpg [nonactive]

[lightarrow]

Hello. I read a thread in this forum about making rust for use in thermite. I put bleach and vinegar into a poland spring bottle (1:1 ratio) and stuck into the bottle an old steel tool I found in my garage. This tool was already starting to rust, so I figured it would be a good candidate. I let the reaction proceed for about 30 minutes, after which the solution turned black. I dumped out the solution and found that the tool only rusted a little bit. I tried it again, but instead left it overnight. It rusted a little bit more but it did not produce anything usable. What could I be doing wrong? I took a (very LARGE) picture of the tool after "rusting": http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/8872/00001ne7.jpg

To easily dissolve such a piece of steel you have to use HNO₃.
To make iron oxyde with bleach and vinegar you should use iron wool. Be careful, in acidic solutions bleach releases chlorine Cl₂, Very toxic! Use dilute solutions! (Even because, otherwise, vinegar is oxydized from bleach and you lose both).

[snyder (OP)]

I see. haha. I did not use dilute solutions at all. :p I did the whole reaction outside so the Chlorine detail is taken care of. Where do you recomment getting iron wool from? The place down the street from me (Rite Aid) didn't even have steel wool.

[paul.fr]

a very simple experiment to rust some steel wire wool is posted here:
http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=6730.msg73568#msg73568

it may be of use, then again...

[DoctorBeaver]

Most hardware stores stock steel wool. If not, try a place where they sell tools for mechanics.

You might like to read this first, though. http://www.ilpi.com/genchem/demo/thermite/index.html

[Bored chemist]

Just for the record, HNO3 passivates some steels so they don't dissolve.
While mixing bleach with vinegar isn't something I'd reccommend because of the chlorine release  it might not be that big a problem because both the bleach and vinegar are very dilute anyway.

[snyder (OP)]

Most hardware stores stock steel wool.

Steel has iron in it, but it would not work as well as straight iron. Am I right? If so, I don't know where to get iron wool from. This thread is the first time I've ever heard of iron wool.

[lightarrow]

Most hardware stores stock steel wool.

Steel has iron in it, but it would not work as well as straight iron. Am I right? If so, I don't know where to get iron wool from. This thread is the first time I've ever heard of iron wool.

Sorry, it was my mistake in translation. It's "steel wool".
In this case, however, steel means a low percent of carbon. So it's totally good to make rust.