Acid Bath
Allows the making of metal salts. You must have the Neutralization tech to use the acid bath.
The acid bath makes a variable amount of metal salts for 1 acid, 1 potash, 25 water in jugs and 7 of the appropriate metal. When you begin the process, the acid eats away at the metal, producing a precipitate. The amount of precipitate increases over time, slowing as it goes (progress is shown). You may filter at any point to extract the salts.
- 8-9 salts will be made in the first 10 minutes
- 13 in the first hour
- 20 in 6 hours
- 24 in 12 hours
- 29 in 24 hours.
To build:
Construction:
Built: inside, sized 5x3 cells ( cp->Projects...->Pyrotechnics...->Acid Bath )
Skill/Tech required: Neutralization
Comments
- Note that to see the option to make a metal salt, you must be holding the metal in your inventory.
To start a batch requires 1 acid, 1 potash, 25 water and 7 of whatever metal you are making a salt of. "The metal dances violently when it hits the acid bath, but then the reaction slows to a gentle fizz." The first few units are very quick, but each additional unit take longer than the previous one. It appears to be indefinate, as there has been a report of 22 precipitate after 8 hours of reaction time.
If it is the same as real life, the reaction will keep going until all of one reactant is used up but in this case that seams to be forever. In real life powdering the metal, increasing the strength of the acid, stirring (motion) or heat would decrease the time for a complete reaction but I tested Al powder...no option.
To imagine the reaction ,imagine a huge room full of people with their arms out. The males are the metal and the females the acid (no pun). If a male meets a female they must leave the room. Females cannot stay in the same place they must keep moving, the males must be clumped together as close as possible in the middle of the room. Over time there will be fewer people left so the reaction will start fast and slowly decrease.
- Do certain metals work faster?-Escapadius? - In RL, yes, but in game, sadly no - I tested Copper and Aluminium, no difference.
Salts production rate
Approximate times are (in Teppy-Time):
- 2-5 salts within 1 minute
- 6 salts in 3 minutes
- 7 salts in 5 minutes
- 8 salts in 8 minutes
- 9 salts in 13 minutes
- 10 salts in 20 minutes
- 11 salts in 29 minutes
- 12 salts in 42 minutes
- 13 salts in 57 minutes
- 14 salts in 1 hour 15 minutes
- 15 salts in 1 hour 40 minutes
- 16 salts in 2 hours
- 17 salts in 3 hours
- 18 salts in 4 hours
- 19 salts in 5 hours
- 20 salts in 6 hours
- 21 salts in 7 hours
- 22 salts in 8 hours
- 23 salts in 10 hours
- 24 salts in 12 hours
- 25 salts in 14 hours
- 26 salts in 16 hours
- 27 salts in 18 hours
- 28 salts in 20 hours
- 29 salts in 24 hours
- 30 salts in 29 hours
- 36 salts in 62 hours
- 43 salts in 5 days
Time/Effort Ratios
If you can afford the minerals, it is extremely preferable to cut the precipitation at a certain point. For example, in the first 8 hours of the precipitation, 22 salts are created. If you wait 16 more hours (two cycles of 8), only 7 more salts are created. In the meantime, if one filtered every 8 hours and refilled the tub, one would gain 66 salts, as opposed to 29 -- over twice as many. However, one would also expend three times the amount for those salts -- 21 minerals for 66 salts, or 7 minerals for 29 salts. Acid and potash also factor in.
Meanwhile, filtering at 6 hours increases that effect even more, as one gains 80 salts for a 24 hour period. However, this eventually levels off to the point where it's really not worthwhile to keep resetting the tub, as the efforts involved increase proportionately. I (Sedelyan) prefer to filter the salts after 8 hours, for 22 each time, but I'm not a terribly effective pyrotechnic student. It all depends on resources.
Sapphicat left an acid bath of lead running in my compound. Not sure when she did, but I think it was at least a week ago. It's currently at 49 salts. This might be the limit of salts that can be created within a single acid bath. Also, I've been sleeping outdoors because of the fumes. - Bahaumaut
Acid Baths cab do more than that. Ii haven't had the potash to start another batch so I have left my baths going for couple weeks now. Currently at 56 Salts and slowly climbing. - Neophant
There is no apparent upper limit to acid bath production, other than the ever-decreasing speed. I had an array of 32 of them last telling that had climbed well over 100 salts apiece after I ignored them for a couple of months. - Sigil