Solution and Chemical Action 363 



milk. If you neutralize the acid by adding a base, there 

 is no acid left to curdle the milk ; the acid and base turn 

 to water and a kind of salt. 



When you did an experiment with strong acid, you 

 were advised to have some ammonia at hand to wash 

 off any acid that might get on your skin or clothes. 

 The ammonia, being a base, would immediately neu- 

 tralize the acid and therefore keep it from doing any 

 damage. Lye also would neutralize the acid, but if 

 you used the least bit too much, the lye would do as 

 much harm as the acid. That is why you should use 

 a weak base, like ammonia or baking soda or washing 

 soda, to neutralize any acid that spills on you. Then 

 if you get too much on, it will not do any harm. 



In the same way you were warned to have vinegar 

 near at hand while you worked with lye. Strong nitric 

 acid also would neutralize the lye, but if you happened 

 to use a drop too much, the acid would be worse than 

 the lye. Vinegar, of course, would not hurt you, no 

 matter how much you put on. 



Any acid will neutralize any base. But it would 

 take a great deal of a weak acid to neutralize a strong 

 base or alkali; you would have to use a great deal of 

 vinegar to neutralize concentrated lye. In the same 

 way it would take a great deal of a weak base to neu- 

 tralize a strong acid; you would have to use a large 

 amount of baking soda or ammonia to neutralize con- 

 centrated nitric acid. 



Application 83. A woman was cleaning kettles with lye. 

 Her little boy was playing near, and some lye splashed on 

 his hand. She looked swiftly around and saw the following 



