Seen in Print

[MurphOnMillerAve]

you can use Oxalic acid to polish marble. It's some pretty nasty stuff.

Never,never, never, never use anything acidic to "polish' marble. All that does is dissolve and erode it. Marble is a carbonate materials. Something as innocuous as oak leaves can pit and corrode it.

Good to learn! I am about to have the main bathroom's 2-sink counter replaced with white marble, and need to learn how not to abuse it.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

you can use Oxalic acid to polish marble. It's some pretty nasty stuff.

Never,never, never, never use anything acidic to "polish' marble. All that does is dissolve and erode it. Marble is a carbonate materials. Something as innocuous as oak leaves can pit and corrode it.

Good to learn! I am about to have the main bathroom's 2-sink counter replaced with white marble, and need to learn how not to abuse it.

There are specific cleaning and polishing supplies that can be bought and it can probably be sealed as well being porous material.

[rilynes]

an exercise in using fine print to your advantage..

genius-free-beer.jpg (38.38 KiB) Viewed 3206 times

[robert.]

you can use Oxalic acid to polish marble. It's some pretty nasty stuff.

Never,never, never, never use anything acidic to "polish' marble. All that does is dissolve and erode it. Marble is a carbonate materials. Something as innocuous as oak leaves can pit and corrode it.

It may be hard to believe but that is what makes it so good for polishing.

[webenda]

And now... the rest of the story.

What happens when an acid is placed on marble (CaCO3)?

The acid attacks the calcium carbonate, leaving an etch or dull surface on the stone surface. The acidic fluid now has Ca++ ions in it.

Next, a fluorosilicate compound (aluminum fluorosilicate, magnesium fluorosilicate or zinc fluorosilicate) is sprayed on the surface.

The surface is then buffed with steel wool until is has a deep shine on it. The shine comes from CaSiF6 that forms on the marble surface during buffing.

Reference: http://www.slipperyrockgazette.net/inde ... on,%20PhD/

[rogruth]

Now for some real thread drift.I have never gotten a good answer for the following question.
Why is chocolate bad for dogs?

[webenda]

Why is chocolate bad for dogs?

5 lb Hershey Bar.jpg (162.48 KiB) Viewed 3153 times

Anyone ever eat chocolate until they felt sick? Like the cactus juice I drank, chocolate contains an alkaloid, alkaloid theobromine.
I think all plants contain an alkaloid, some more than others. Also, I think all alkaloids are poisonous, some more so than others. (Strychnine is an alkaloid derived from a small Hawaiian tree Strychnos nux-vomica.)

Here is a list of how much theobromine it takes to kill some animals:
Cat: 200 mg/kg of body weight
Dog: 300 mg/kg
Mouse: 837 mg/kg
Human: 1000 mg/kg
Rat: 1,265 mg/kg

Serious poisoning happens more frequently in domestic animals, which metabolize theobromine more slowly than humans and can easily consume enough chocolate to raise theobromine to toxic levels.

References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3672386/
http://www.dogownersdigest.com/news/lib ... ning.shtml
http://blogs.plos.org/speakeasyscience/ ... chocolate/

[MurphOnMillerAve]

That's exquisitely informative, Wayne.

I had always heard (legend?) that all chocolate contains wax (bees'?) to varying degrees. The cheaper the chocolate, the higher the wax content. For example, with "Easter Bunnies," which I am buying today for gifts, there would be a good deal of wax present to help the thing have and keep shape.

Perhaps, the wax, in addition to what has been stated above, gets caught-up in dogs' intestines, due especially to their gobbling food down quickly, with little thought to masticating fully for a full flavor experience.
Eh?
Murph, the legend pay-attention-er

[rogruth]

Ohhhh-Kaaaaaay.
I don't think in mg/kgs, sort of a weight Luddite, so how big a piece of chocolate would that be in inches or pounds?

[robert.]

A 1.5 ounce Hersey bar has 64 mg of Theobromine. A 40 lbs. dog would need 5,455 mg. Your 40 lbs. dog needs to eat 85 Hersey bars or 127 oz of Hersey's chocolate. Basically 8 pounds or 1/5 of its body weight. Not many people have 8 lbs of chocolate in their house. Even on Halloween. Now if your neighbors have come home from vacationing in Hersey. They just might give you one of those novelty Hersey bars @ 10 lbs.

Ps. Now we will find out if there is a math teacher in the house.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I wonder if it is a matter of the toxic substance(s) and the wax building up over a period of time in the animal's intestines (?)

It might not be a matter of an animal dramatically and suddenly dropping to the ground after gulping down a Snickers or whatnot, for example (?) the toxicity effect may take time to take hold.

[webenda]

Cacao beans contain about 1.2% theobromine by weight, while processed chocolate, in general, has smaller amounts. The amount found in highly refined chocolate candies (typically 1.4–2.1 g/kg or 40–60 mg/oz) is much lower than that of dark chocolate or unsweetened baker's chocolate (> 14 g/kg or > 400 mg/oz).

A typical 20 kg (44 lb) dog will normally experience intestinal distress after eating less than 240 g (8.5 oz) of dark chocolate, but won't necessarily experience bradycardia or tachyarrhythmia unless it eats at least 0.5 kg (1.1 lb) of milk chocolate. According to the Merck Veterinary Manual, baker's chocolate of approximately 1.3 g/kg (0.02 oz/lb) of a dog's body weight is sufficient to cause symptoms of toxicity. For example, a typical 25-gram (0.88 oz) baker's chocolate bar would be enough to produce symptoms in a 20-kilogram (44 lb) dog.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theobromine_poisoning

Eight ounces of Hershey dark chocolate makes me feel sick. I don't know if that five-pound bar would kill me. Let us do the math.

Let's say the Hershey has 2 g/kg = 2,000 mg/kg. A 2.6 kg bar would contain 2,000 mg/kg x 2.6 kg = 5,200 mg. I Weigh 91 kg. The five pound bar would give me 5,200 mg/91 kg = 57 mg/kg poison. Not a lethal level (1,000 mg/kg) but, for me, a throw-up level. Of course, throwing up would eliminate the problem, wouldn't it?

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I just consumed a quality("Waggoner Chocolates") dark chocolate "turtle". I'll let ya'll know if anything untoward happens.

(Having had my gall bladder removed a couple years ago, I'm not supposed to eat chocolate. Period. It's at the top of the list of no-no's.)

[webenda]

I wonder if it is a matter of the toxic substance(s) and the wax building up over a period of time in the animal's intestines (?)

It might not be a matter of an animal dramatically and suddenly dropping to the ground after gulping down a Snickers or whatnot, for example (?) the toxicity effect may take time to take hold.

Beeswax does not build up.
Reference: http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplemen ... ientid=305

Hershey does not use beeswax. Cheap chocolate does not use beeswax, too expensive, They use paraffin wax. It tastes more like a chocolate flavored paraffin candle than candy. I think most of us have experienced chocolate flavored paraffin.

Yes, paraffin wax is a common chocolate and candy additive to inexpensive chocolates because it does not require the chocolate to be properly tempered. Tempering is a tricky ‘trade-secret’ which produces shine and shelf-stability without the use of additives due to the properties of cacao butter. More expensive chocolate, and what contributes to both its cost and flavor is the simple ingredient list of pure cacao butter, cacao powder and a sweetener. Often times lecithin is added to assist in setting up the chocolate, but very fine chocolate made by brilliant chocolatiers, need no such additives. Lecithin is also an allergen to many people, usually derived from soy.

Reference: http://guardianlv.com/2013/08/does-your ... ntain-wax/

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Helpful stuff, that.
But do you agree I should never eat chocolate again?