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Re: Cleaning Glass
Paul writes:
> never said it was aluminum silicate. I said it was redeposited glass.
> The deposit is, I am pretty sure, silicon dioxide. It is easy to tell the
> difference between glass and carbonates. The latter are much softer and
> are dissolved by acid. The former is much harder and is not dissolved by
> acid. I have tried full strength, 18 molar hydrochloric acid on it, with no
> effect. Muriatic acid is only 20% hydrochloric acid. Silicon dioxide is
> the major component of glass, and it is somewhat soluble in water. The
> water that condenses on the bottom of the glass plate dissolves a little
> bit each night, which gets redeposited during the day. If you don't
> believe that silicon dioxide is slightly soluble in water, how do you
> explain where diatoms get their silica shells?
Okay, so your chemistry is a little sharper than mine, but ow come I can get
the stuff off the underside of my cover? How come the rest of us aren't
experiencing this "redeposited glass" thing? What's so different about
Mississippi water that you are seeing this and I'm not?
The carbonate buildup in a pot that is used to boil water is not soft, it is
rock hard. Maybe your lights are baking the stuff on? I'd still try the
CLR, and if it comes off, it is carbonates.
Bob Dixon