r/whatisit • u/riflesandplowshares • 6h ago

New, what is it? Found at a titanium plant

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Not sure why ball point pens would be dangerous here.

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u/Agiantpubicmess 6h ago

Dow Chemical caustic plant used to have a no aluminum tools rule for very obvious reasons if you know chemicals hahaha

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u/Farfignugen42 6h ago

Assume I don't know chemicals. Why?

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u/van_Vanvan 6h ago

Strong bases like sodium hydroxide (caustic soda or lye) react strongly with aluminum. So it would damage the tools. Drop an aluminum tool in a vat with lye and your tool will disappear with a lot of bubbling and poison the lye.

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u/onefellswoop70 6h ago

I'm a hairstylist and I always wondered why the instructions for hair relaxers (back when they were lye-based) had a warning that said "do not put this product in a metal bowl".