Sulfuric Acid Applications Essays

Sulfuric Acid Applications Essays Sulfuric Acid Applications Paper Sulfuric Acid Applications Paper Sulfuric acid is one of the most important industrial chemicals; more sulfuric acid is produced each year than is made of any other manufactured chemical. More than 40 million tons of it was produced in the United States in 1990 and was heavily manufactured in nearly every other country. It has widely varied uses and plays some part in the production of nearly all manufactured goods. The major use of sulfuric acid is in the production of fertilizers, e. g. , superphosphate of lime and ammonium sulphate, as well as this it is widely used in the manufacture of chemicals, e. g. in making hydrochloric acid, nitric acid. Sulfuric acid is also used in the creation of everyday products such as synthetic detergents, dyes, pigments, small explosives, and drugs. Sulfuric acid is also widely used for industrial purposes such as petroleum refining which washes impurities out of gasoline and other refinery products. Sulfuric acid is additionally used in processing metals b y pickling (cleaning) iron and steel before plating them with tin or zinc. Sulfuric acid serves as the electrolyte in the lead-acid storage battery commonly used in cars or other motor vehicles (often called battery acid). Sulfuric acid also creates materials such as Rayon which is mainly used in thread. I support the fact that sulfuric acid is one of the most important chemicals in the world, as it is so widely used for so many purposes, ranging from industrial, chemical to the creation of materials. Although I would not entirely support the reliability of the second part of the statement, this is because some countries do not manufacture products which involve the use of sulfuric acid. Some countries could manufacture goods which involve a high amount of sulfuric acid, these would give misleading results if you were using sulfuric acid production as an indicator of a nation’s economic productivity and for these reasons I think that while you can measure results accurately for the most part, it is not completely reliable as some countries may use excessive amounts of sulfuric acid while others can use little or none while still producing many goods.