Is 99.5% acetone good enough?

http://chemistry.elmhurst.edu/vchembook/214organicchain.html

"
Methanol is a polar molecule:

See graphic on the left. The alcohol (-OH) group dominates the molecule making it definitely polar".

Ive experienced the same where I've dissolved polar molecules in methanol, like potassium chloride.

-SC

 

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10 liters...be careful, that's enough to get hurt with (flammability).

 

Doesn't this scratch the coin as it spins?

 

Thank you. I will use this technique.

 

Will do. I plan to work out in the second garage where there are no flames or other dangerous materials. It also will allow for airing out.

 

I don't follow. Can you please describe this concept? I'm going to be rinsing a couple hundred coins. I intended to layer a baking pan with coins, pour in acetone, and then soak overnight. I need to pour them out the next day but don't want to pour out the coins.

 

By the way, 36.4% Troll vote. You guys/gals crack me up.

 

That's an "Ooooh, why didn't I think of that?" response.

Put the coffee filter into a small strainer for structural support. Test it first - maybe pour the acetone through it into the pan for your initial soak, thereby killing two birds with one stone - as that initial test to see if the filter will withstand acetone. I don't know for sure how that will play, but it's worth trying. If the acetone does, in fact, melt the filter it won't really hurt your initial soak because you'll see it soon enough to over-contaminate the solution.

I did some checking (fair warning, the answer to the question of whether a coffee filter withstands acetone will take you to places where they're talking about a skill you may not want in your Internet record) and found a bit of empiric support for the theory.

 

How aggressively are you spinning for pitty's sake? Just a gentle swish.

To answer the other ? about how to remove them, pick them out of the tray one by one wearing nitrile (or similar acetone resistant) gloves.

 

Just scoop the coins out with your fingers (clean) and then wash your hands and apply a little lotion for cripes sake. Don't do this more than 10 times a day for a year.

 

Yes, thats exactly what I meant. Ive used acetone on coffee filters before and it was just fine. Yes, searching it isnt the greatest idea, for two reasons...

 

"one wearing nitrile (or similar acetone resistant) gloves."

Nitrile gloves are not recommended for use with Acetone, especially if it might be longer term ( maybe more than a few coins). Latex, natural rubber or Butyl rubber gloves are recommended. "For a couple of hundred" at a time, I would find the Butyl gloves if a chemistry novice.

 

Can you even get a coffee filter that's made from anything other than cellulose (paper)? You can char it with concentrated sulfuric acid, nitrate it with sulfuric/nitric acid, or dissolve it with ammoniacal copper -- but none of those have any business near coins in the first place, right?

If I found a coffee filter that was attacked by acetone, I'd be very curious, and perhaps a little reluctant to let it anywhere near coffee.

 

The number I found quoted for nitrile was four minutes' resistance. The primary parameter in my recommendation was sufficient manual dexterity to pick up a coin while wearing the gloves, and not even latex that thin will avoid at least diffusion from the acetone for much longer.

 

How are you sealing that baking pan? It will have to have a tight fitting lid or all your acetone will evaporate.

 

I have a couple hundred coins. Gloves it is!

 

I've got a glass top for it. Best I can do. Also, the pan itself is porcelain (casserole dish). Is that the best for it?

 

#1 I'm not sure gloves wouldn't bleed something out into the coins and #2 about what @BadThad said, you could place a pane of glass over the bowl, you might get some evaporation, but it should last overnight #3 if you REALLY don't want to get your fingers in the acetone, buy a bag of fruit in one of those plastic mesh sacks, eat the fruit and use the plastic mesh to drain your coins.

 

Yes, my hope is that it will hold through the night with the glass lid on.

Great idea on the plastic mesh. I like this and can give it a try since I have one of these for some oranges. I assume this is for the final rinse and not for the soak? I imagine the plastic would start to dissolve overnight?

 

I think that mesh is either polyethylene or polypropylene and wouldn't really dissolve, but it might get mushy with soaking. I have used it for dipping silver coins in eZest.