Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Lazz45 t1_iw8gc1s wrote

So this question has a few levels I would like to touch on so you fully understand what is happening.

  1. Acids are generally described and referred to in the way in which they react when dissolved in water. This means when they are in solution with water. Ex. Hydrochloric acid is hydrogen chloride gas (a colorless gas at room temp) dissolved in water

  2. The solubility of solids in water trends downward with temperature while the solubility of gas actually trends opposite. Meaning the amount of the compound that is the acid that can be dissolved in water (the concentration of the acid) changes with temperature, especially if we are talking talking a room temp acid then freezing the water

  3. Once water freezes you're no longer liquid and you begin forming a solid crystal structure (ice). At this point lots of gas would escape as it freezes and solids will fall out of solution (while some would be trapped in the solid ice).

So for your question, say you froze a cylinder of sulfuric acid and placed it on a steel table. It would begin melting at the interface between the ice and the table (table is very large and warmer than the ice, it also transfers heat between the atmosphere and the ice much faster than the air). This interface will be cold but liquid and will begin acting as an acid (and produce heat, melting more water) which would lead to corroding the table.

Now assuming we place the cylinder in a cold, atmosphere controlled box on an actively cooled table to prevent the ice from melting. it likely wouldn't be corrosive at all to the table but you'd have to see how the materials of the solid may interact with the base acid material when not dissolved in water

13