Chemical Storage

Name: Joy
Status: educator
Grade: 9-12
Location: OK

Question: Which acid is causing the yellow-green discoloration on 
the inside of my acid cabinet? My nitric acid is in a separate 
compartment inside the cabinet. Also, there is quite a bit of 
condensation inside the cabinet too. How can I eliminate this 
problem? All bottles are capped tightly. It is a wooden cabinet, so 
structural integrity is not a problem, but the paint is permanently 
discolored and the condensation is a nuisance.
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Joy,

I spoke with a colleague of mine who has 40+ years
of experience in 9-12 chemistry education. She
got in touch with a colleague who helped her put
together her hazmat management program. I also 
have some experience in this area. Here is her
response (edited a bit).

This needs your immediate attention - it 
could be a very hazardous situation.

Dr. Topper
**************************************************

"I have bad news for your email questioner...  The
owner/manager of the Environmental services corporation 
that my old school district uses called me with the 
following concerns:

'They are generating chlorine gas or some other halide gas   
(possibly from old hydrochloric acid or spilled 
copper chloride or some other chloride compound).  
The cabinet is probably totally contaminated and at
best should be broken down and taken to the proper 
disposal facility and replaced with a new cabinet. 
If this is impossible for some reason, a trained 
professional could try to decontaminate the cabinet 
(but this is difficult to do with acid contamination).    

The condensation causes a particular problem, 
because it is probably acidic. It should be carefully 
tested with pH paper.  

Also, everything in the cabinet should be replaced 
because it is probably contaminated with the chlorine 
or halide gas.' 

Sorry for the bad news, but it sounds like a very 
dangerous situation that should be remedied as soon 
as possible.  Good luck!"

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