sulphric acid on laptop

[mollykins]

Someone (not me) managed to spill sulphuric acid onto a teachers laptop. it was mopped up straight away, how ever, when we saw the teacher again, half an hour later, some of the keys had started to crumble. There were a few that you could gently poke with one finger, and the whole thing would come of, exposing the little squidgy bit, that tapping the key actually presses down on!!!

What would have happened by now (5 hours later?) and will it be repairable?

As in would the acid have stopped at the keys or will it have ruined the bit underneath aswell?

[redman41]

New LapTop pronto. SinBin for the Culprits

[NazNomad]

I hope it didn't melt the A, B or C keys ... else you can expect all D's and lower from now on :-(

[DTCwordfan]

Detention time looming me fears - Big Time.....

[mollykins]

Naz, luckily he isn't my actual teacher, and we've already had our reports. Our proper chemistry teacher is a deputy head and had to be in a meeting but cos we're an a-level group, we got a proper chemistry teacher to cover the lesson, but now he wishes he didn't. The sulphuric acid was wiped form the surface of the keys and it seemed ok to start with (just before break), but when we came back at the end of break, he tried to use the keys, and as he pressed down on the left hand side of the caps lock key, the whole button just came away!

[DTCwordfan]

I did A-level Biology at a northern public school (all boys and a pretty famous one for its sport). This was when Biology was Biology - i.e. dissection of rats etc was an essential part of the course and the main core of the practical exam.

(i) Some unsuspecting 3rd former (i.e. 13 or 14 year old back then) got a nice surprise on putting his hand in his blazer pocket - his big mistake was to leave it hanging outside our lab

(ii) we injected the Biology Master's prize cactus with absolute alcohol - it really did bolt away leaving the master pretty confused to this sudden surge in growth......

He used to chuck the class bible, Roberts, or even bunsens at us if we didn't pay attention.....but the best one of all to show his other side, the Head of his House, (he was a housemaster) was caught by him under the rhodeos with his 17 year old daughter (only kissing). Nothing said for nearly a week and then when the HofH was in his study one evening, he came out with the immortal words (in a deep Welsh accent) "Don't worry about the other night. That's what housemaster's daughters are for."

[AlBags]

That's knackered then. No fixing that one now.

Was that a chemistry student's coffee? : )

[mollykins]

Who was the coffee comment aimed at? Couldn't be me, we're not allowed to drink in labs, I didn't think anyone did in any tbh.

[theprof]

Laptop key tops will not survive a spillage of any of the strong mineral acids. While you've not said mollykins if you know the strength of the acid, I'd guess it was probably quite concentrated.

It's very unlikely to be repairable as the acid will almost certainly have seeped on to components below within seconds of the spillage. Time for your teacher to buy a new laptop!

[theprof]

If your teacher is looking for a new laptop and uses it a lot in the lab, advise him to get one of the Panasonic Toughbook series. They will survive mineral acid attack, sledgehammer attack, drops from skyscrapers and being run over by a road roller. Their are not pretty or particularly high spec but are the laptop of choice in most defence research facilities throughout the world - I once witnessed an attempt to blow one up using plastic explosive, and it survived.

Mind you, it'll cost him in the region of £4K for a new one!

[carlton23]

PanasonicToughbook Keyboards
Please wait
Image not availableEnlarge

PANASONIC TOUGHBOOK KEYBOARD NK15006 UK MINT

If you google this you will see this one costs £14.99

[mollykins]

It belongs to the school, so the teckies'll see if they can repair it, if not he'll get a new one. I think it was 0.5 mol !

[theprof]

Err , can’t see the point your making Carlton23. There’s no indication that the example given is an original Panasonic part. Besides, this one:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk...e&hash=item43a39f30d9

is a little bit more expensive!

Mollykins did not mention the make of her teachers laptop, so giving a link to a replacement Toughbook keyboard is irrelevant as far as the cost of replacing the damaged keyboard is concerned.

You’re not paying for the quality of the keyboard alone in a Toughbook. The protective acid/alkali and oil resistant integral sealed keyboard cover and the fact that toughbooks are the only laptop I know off that have inbuilt drainage channels beneath the keys to allow any liquids that do get past the cover to drain harmlessly away to the outside of the casing. These channels are totally corrosion resistant. In addition, the majority of recent toughbooks are made of a special magnesium alloy rather than the polymers that most laptops are made of nowadays.

Believe me, you would expect something out of the ordinary if you spend £4K on a laptop and in the Toughbook, you get it. The one I have in a research facility near Sevenoaks has survived major deliberate and accidental abuse in the 14 months it’s been in my possession and it’s still going strong – my lab assistant dropped a 115Kg lump of composite material on the closed lid of the laptop a few months ago.

I’d better stop there as I sound like an advert for the Toughbook!

[scotman]

I would be more concerned about practices that had sulphuric acid anywhere near a computer.

[theprof]

Mollykins, 0.5 mol HCl should not cause the damage you describe to a laptop. Are you sure this was the concentration?

[theprof]

Yes, Scotman there does seem to be an irresponsible facet to this story. Methinks the teacher has some explaining to do!

[mollykins]

it might have been 1 molar, anyway good news! the teckies managed to rescue it. They cleaned it up a bit and replaced the keys and it's as good as new.