Cobolt Chloride is it ok in the safe?

I know there are some chemists that are collectors here. I was looking at silica today and had never thought about this, I even googled and wiki'd it but didn't find a real answer. So I need to ask some fellow collectors their thoughts.
Is Cobolt Chloride a problem being stored with coins?
I know it's a plus to be able to just look at a color and know if the beads are still good or need changed. I also know at a point it can cause health issues.
But is there any other concerns with it? Is it safe locked up with coins?

 

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Cobalt chloride is poisonous if you ingest it, but it doesn't produce any gases. As long as you don't put it directly in contact with your coins, it should be perfectly safe.

Disclaimer: I'm not a professional chemist, and I haven't experimented directly with cobalt chloride on or near coins. But I'm pretty darned confident about this -- there's just no mechanism for it to do harm, unless you mix it with the wrong kind of drain cleaner or something like that, in which case you'll deserve what you get.

 

My opinion, it's cheaper and simpler to use packets of silica gel.

I don't want ANY chlorides around my coins, as they are derived from chlorine, a highly-poisonous, highly-reactive gas. Within the compound, chlorine is apparently stable. But over years?

Don't know and don't want to find out.

 

Cobalt chloride isn't used in bulk as a dessicant. It's an indicator -- it changes color from blue when it's dry to pink when it's not. Add a tiny amount to silica gel, and you get a dessicant pack that tells you when it's time for reconditioning.

Sure, it's "derived from chlorine". But table salt is derived from that same highly-poisonous, highly-reactive chlorine gas -- along with sodium, a metal so reactive that it explodes in contact with water. And yet, we hardly ever hear of people being gassed or losing their houses because their salt shaker went rogue, even after sitting around for years.

Cobalt chloride is the same kind of compound. It's not going to produce free chlorine, period, unless you mix it with something ridiculous, or deliberately melt or dissolve it and pass an electric current through it.

 

@doug444 dry & dry blue comes in packets at a range of sizes and is only a few dollars more than pure silica. Also no need for test cards. So pure isn't really less cost depending on the risk.

I work with cobalt based metals that have a cobalt powder coat they have some chloride not sure how much.

 

Almost everyone consumes sodium chloride everyday, usually as much as a gram or more in food products. We have to have it.
(Jeff beat me)

 

Lol, my wife puts a ton of salt on her food, she hasn't blow up yet........
Um, no she's not fat either

 

I don't need to be INSTRUCTED about table salt. Cobalt is not sodium. Since I don't know what it does, or what it reacts with, I'll stick with silica gel.

 

I will have to remember this as I have just combined a few collections.
So, Sodium Chloride draws gasses and moisture?

 

Cobalt chloride is added to silica gel and other desciants in tiny amounts. It transitions from anhydrous (no water and blue) to dihydrate (two waters and purple) and eventually to hexahydrate (six waters and pink) and back again in response to atmospheric water concentration (i.e. relative humidity). It's non-volatile, so it's no gaseous hazard to coins or humans. Yeah, if you dump a bunch of strong acid (e.g. nitric, sulfuric, etc.) on it, you'll get hydrochloric acid vapors. So my advice is not to store strong acids in the safe with your coins.

Cobalt is a an essential trace element. You have to have it or die of anemia. Further, for humans and most animals, it must be in the form of vitamin B12.

Cal

 

One more thought, vegetarians are more susceptible to Vitamin B12 deficiency, as there are very few if any plant sources of this vitamin. It comes primarily from meat, fish, dairy products, and animal products in general, or a suitable dietary supplement, as humans cannot manufacture it.

 

Only some microbes can synthesize vitamin B12, and cobalt must be in their growth medium for them to do it. Plants can neither make nor need vitamin B12, which is why plants are generally a poor source of it. Plants that have a little actually have it because they are hosting microbes or are contaminated with microbes.

Vitamin B12 can be absorbed only in the small intestine, but not in the stomach. Some animals (cows, sheep, etc.) have fermentation in their stomach, where microbes produce B12 which passes to the small intestine and is absorbed. All animals and humans have bacteria in the large intestine that produce B12, but it can't be absorbed there. Some animals, but few humans, take advantage of this source of B12 by eating feces.

Omnivores (e.g. humans) and carnivores obtain B12 by eating tissues of animals that have gained their B12 from microbial sources. Some humans obtain B12 by eating microbial products, B12 in pill form obtained from microbes, or certain plants that are "contaminated" with microbial B12.

Cal

 

Wow, thanks guys.
Calcol appreciate your comments backs up pretty much what I was thinking.

 

along with sodium, a metal so reactive that it explodes in contact with water.

Minor quibble, it is the hydrogen evolved in the reaction with water that explodes when mixed with the oxygen in the air and is ignited by the sodium's violently exothermic reaction.

As a young lad, I found it great fun to walk down a street dropping (unobtrusively) a small pieceof metalic sodium down street drains as I passed. Because it took some time for the hydrogen to build up to an explosive mixture and for the heat of reaction to ignte it, you could be a hundred yards away before the bang. As far as I know it never did any more damage than to wake people up.

We had to make our own amusements in those days.

 

Yeah, those were the days. I too did a little active public chemistry as a youth. But these days, it would get you arrested as a terrorist.

Cal

 

Only if you got caught.

In days of yore no-one took much notice. I'd love to see what a fuss they'd make nowadays, when over reaction has become the norm.

 

I have been using it in my safe with coins for thirty years... no issues...no tarnish, no gases....

 

Aren't all the rechargeable dehumidifiers based on Cobalt Chloride as the indicator?

they change colors from blue to purple to pink as it absorbs water.
They you plug them in, heat them up to remove the absorbed water and back to blue color.

 

Thanks, my chemistry friends. I won't be afraid to use the indicator with the silica. I, too, used to sneak chemicals out of the HS lab: hydrogen sulfide to put in the vents (amazing no one died); mercury to roll around the floor in study hall; sulfur, saltpeter and charcoal for gunpowder (I did accidentally blow up a mustard jar and got a shard embedded in my thumb). Angels watch over kids and fools (I was both).
Steve

 

I have used this material in my safe without any problems. One trade name is Drierite. The product is 98%+ Calcium Sulfate (the part that attracts the moisture) and <2% Cobalt Dichloride. As others have said, Cobalt Dichloride is the indicator, it turns pink when as the Calcium Sulfate picks up moisture. When it turns pink, just toss it in the oven at a low temp to drive off the moisture. Once the moisture is gone and the Calcium sulfate can once again pull moisture from the atmosphere, the indicator turns blue.


Sulfates and chlorides are things that shouldn’t come on contact with coins, but by keeping the drierite in a separate container, I haven’t had a problem. Disclaimer: I currently use the silica gel packs. I don’t have any more Drierite and the gel is cheap. Theoretically, you should be able to recharge the silica gel, but it is difficult to determine when it is no longer absorbent, or if you recharged it for the right period of time.


NOTE: All of the safety information is available on the SDS. Google Drierite to see it.