sodium bisulfite

John Bordley (jbordley@seraph1.sewanee.edu)
Thu, 17 Aug 1995 11:22:41 -0500

>If this is still inadequate, add some household ammonia (non-sudsy, and
>for god's sake non-perfumed unless you want your prints to stink like
>lowgrade "house of pleasure") starting with maybe an ounce (30cc or so)
>to the litre. Or you can use another alkali. Puyo recommends sodium
>carbonate, though his first choice is sodium bisulfite, apparently a
>household cleaner in his day! (Chemists: is that really an alkali?)
>
>Judy
>

Sodium bisulfite is NOT an alkali. The pH of a solution of sodium
bisulfite should be about 5. Since most tap water has a pH of about 5, one
would say the sodium bisulfite was essentially neutral. If you had tap
water of pH = 7, then the solution would be slightly acidic. Sodium
sulfite would be basic, with a pH of around 9 or 10.

I checked with a retired chemistry friend who has an interest in the
history of chemistry, and he didn't know of sodium sulfite ever being a
household cleaner. He doubted it, because the sodium sulfite is rather
toxic.

John L. Bordley, Jr.
Department of Chemistry
The University of the South
735 University Ave.
Sewanee, TN 37383-1000

615-598-1801