Acid and Chocolate (Sucrose)

[ThomsonC]

Hi everyone,

 

I wonder if I could tap the knowledge out there in the community:

 

http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/mythbusters-can-chocolate-stop-acid.html

 

During the presentation above, chocolate is exposed to sulfuric acid from a leak in a sulphuric acid container, the resulting sticky brown putty plugs the leak. The sticky brown mass is named in the video, but I cannot make it out.

Is anyone able to name the substance or point to any relevant literature on the subject?

 

Much appreciated!

 

Thomsonc

[hypervalent_iodine]

Conc. sulfuric acid reacts with sucrose (and other sugars) in the chocolate and generates an exothermic dehydration reaction, giving water (in the form of steam) and elemental carbon. I'm pretty sure it's the carbon that tars the hole.

 

There's a bunch of you tube videos, etc. that you can watch if you google sucrose plus sulfuric acid.

Edited May 25, 2011 by hypervalent_iodine

[ThomsonC]

Thanks for your reply,

 

I'm after the name of the putty-like substance though. In the video I linked, the bloke says "Chemists call this substance ***". I'm lookiing for further literature on the putty like substance and so I need the name of the putty.

 

Cheers,

 

ThomsonC

[hypervalent_iodine]

Clicking the link you gave takes me to microsoft outlook. Not to worry, I found and watched the video. They say the name of the putty, but I can't understand what they're saying. WHy do you need to know it's name?

[ThomsonC]

Because it's a problem we're seeing in industry and we want to make sure that this is in fact what's happening. To do that I need to be able to look up literature on the subject, to do that I need to know the cursed putty's name. Simple as that .

 

 

[hypervalent_iodine]

Chocolate in your sulphuric acid is a common problem? I tried doing a few searches for you, but couldn't find much about any trivial name for the stuff.

[ThomsonC]

Close, but not quite . Cleaning of lines containing chocolate is often done with a strong acid or base, we discovered a sticky mass in one of the lines. Whilst it's easy to solve to problem, we want to make certain that it's the root cause. I've searched long and hard for a chemical description, but to no avail, which I why I thought I would test the water of a message board.

 

Cheers for your help.

[hypervalent_iodine]

But I gave you a chemical description? It should just be elemental carbon.

[ThomsonC]

Indeed you did, but I'd still like a name for that putty like substance. Petty it's true, but Carbon/Sucrose residue doesn't give me any further information on the subject

[mississippichem]

Indeed you did, but I'd still like a name for that putty like substance. Petty it's true, but Carbon/Sucrose residue doesn't give me any further information on the subject

 

It's just a mixture of amporphous carbon and some partially dehydrated carbohydrates. There is no official chemical nomenclature for such a mixture. That does give you more information on the subject.

 

Just take surcrose and imagine all the dehydration reactions that could occur. Your putty is a mixture of those products along with fully dehydrated carbon. Further analysis would require spectroscopy of the putty.

[ewmon]

The sticky brown mass is named in the video, but I cannot make it out.

Is anyone able to name the substance or point to any relevant literature on the subject?

He's saying "ickumpucky" which seems to be some sort of sealant/gasket substance ... probably is not Akempucky.