Hydrochloric acid is the aqueous solution of hydrogen chloride (HCl)
gas. It is a strong acid, facilitating wide use. As a highly corrosive
liquid, hydrochloric acid should be handled only with appropriate
safety precautions. Hydrochloric acid has been an important and
frequently-used chemical from early history, and was discovered by the
Islamic alchemist Jabir around 800. It was used throughout the Middle
Ages by alchemists in the quest for the philosopher's stone, and later
by several European scientists including Glauber, Priestley, and Davy.
During the Industrial Revolution, it became an important industrial
chemical for many applications. Applications include large scale
production of organic compounds such as vinyl chloride for PVC and
MDI/TDI for PUR.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrochloric_acid
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1719:
Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe was first published.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson_Crusoe)
1792:
The guillotine was first used to carry out capital punishment in
France.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/guillotine)
1898:
Spanish-American War: The U.S. Congress retroactively declared war on
Spain.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish-American_War)
1953:
A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid by James Watson and Francis
Crick was published in Nature.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA)
1983:
Cold War: Soviet leader Yuri Andropov invited American schoolgirl
Samantha Smith to visit Moscow, Leningrad and the Artek Young Pioneer
camp.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samantha_Smith)
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Wikiquote of the day:
"Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences. No one can eliminate
prejudices— just recognize them." -- Edward R. Murrow
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edward_R._Murrow)