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by jaggederest 3241 days ago
It depends on which ion(s) in particular was in the solution.

If it was something relatively pleasant, like the referenced sulfuric, carbonic, and chloric acids, the heat would almost certainly be more of a problem in the short term. In the long term you'd be missing significant portions of your anatomy due to the dehydration of your skin by the sulfuric acid, but that could certainly wait.

On the other hand, if it were (for example) hydrofluoric acid, you'd have nerve transmission issues and your heart would stop well before you'd be cooked thoroughly.

Here's an interesting video by Nile Red showing that it's not the acid, per se, that is especially dangerous: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeVZQoJ5FdE

Now, when you heat things, all the reactions speed up. So it'd certainly be only a few seconds before things would get very drastic.

1 comments

And with hot fuming nitric acid, you'd go up in flames.