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 _______________________________ 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) _____________________ 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)