Recent content by Roger Paine

My zinc came from an etching plate which is marketed as being 99.95% pure zinc. The acid is 35% that I brought from the hardware shop... come to think of it, I did initially put a zinc carbon battery case in there to start with... washed all the electrolyte off and wire brushed it... maybe that...

I'm a designer and blacksmith or metal working artist. My interesting chemistry has been stimulated by problems that I have had with corrosion and plating steel and iron. I set out to do copper plating as a means of adding colour to my work but the horizon has quickly expanded to include zinc...

I dissolved zinc in HCl until it stopped fizzing - all the Zn is gone so there may be some HCl left. I have a purple/violet liquid that I assume is zinc chloride. When I brush newly cut mild steel or iron with the solution, I get copper/brass coloured plating that does not rub off. I have no...