Re: chemistry question

Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Tue, 12 May 1998 01:36:35 -0400 (EDT)

On Mon, 11 May 1998, Sil Horwitz wrote:

> ....Incidently, two other
> sulfur compounds: sodium sulfite and sodium metabisulfite, are totally
> different in reaction, as the sulfite comes from a very weak acid, so
> sodium sulfite is alkaline, while the bisulfite is very weakly acid. Both
> these compounds have a wide use in photography.)

Sil, I have a jar of sodium bisulfite, and one of sodium metabisulfite,
and one of potassium bisulfite (or maybe it's metabisulfite), and on those
rare occasions when I actually "clear" a gum print (usually they clear in
a long plain water soak, which I prefer for several reasons, including
that it doesn't make me choke), I grab whichever one is handy. As far as
I've noticed, they seem to work about the same. Am I missing something?

In fact, I recall reading somewhere (maybe on this list long ago, maybe
from Mike Ware), that you can clear a gum print in sodium sulfite, either.
I'd made a mental note to try it, but haven't.... Any advice?

Judy