James Fischer wrote:

> 8)  So why would anyone use Oxalic Acid?
>     Why not just use Formic?

>         Maybe because many beekeepers don't remember
>         their chemistry.

Good chemistry lesson but missed some keys factors and that is
concentration, amount and duration of application along with the
application method, so it is not a valid comparison.

There is a difference in sipping vinegar or sipping glacial acetic acid
even though both are the same chemical. The same with a drop of acid
compared to a teaspoon full. Or the same acid at the same concentration
in contact with a substance for a minute compared to an hour. To have a
valid comparison you have to take the amounts, concentration,
application method and duration of application along with the reactions
involved with the specific chemical.

Also, a small point, but how a chemical reacts with a substance, be it
rust or glass is not necessarily an indicator of strength or danger.
Many concentrated and dangerous acids can be stored safely in glass yet
they are extremely dangerous. HF cannot, yet it can be stored in
plastic. Spill some 70% HCl on you and wash immediately with water and
you will be acid burned, and that is all, but do the same with HF (the
one you can keep in plastic) and you can and probably will die. Some
acids will clean up rust and leave the metal alone, some will take on
both, and some neither. All depends on the chemistry involved.

None of this is meant to imply Oxalic Acid is not dangerous. My only
point is that the differences in application methods and duration make
it difficult to compare the two, even if you go "peaches to nectarines"
(vice apples to oranges which is oxalic acid vapor vrs formic acid
liquid) which would be the formic acid treatment and oxalic acid drip.
Even there, amounts, concentration and time are different even in the
same treatment.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Me