Teach Soap

I am not sure if this is safe or possible, was wondering if I could prepare lye ahead of time so all I would have to do is measure and pour, could I do this? If so, what kind of container would it have to be? I have a storage closet outside of our patio that I could put it in.

Sonya

This came up once in another thread and the general consensus is that it's a much better idea to mix the lye with water as needed for a few reasons.
1. Lye water is more dangerous than lye powder sitting on its own. In powder or granule form it just sits there but the true corrosive power of NaOH isn't unlocked until you have Na+ and OH- ions disassociated in an aqueous solution.
2. NaOH is more hygroscopic in an aqueous form than in an anhydrous form. That means it has the power to pull water from the air and increase in volume diluting itself and messing up your calculations.

In the lab I researched in we never kept solutions of NaOH stronger than 1M as stock solutions, and mixed lye as needed when a stronger concentration was needed.

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Just call me "Apo"

Thank you so much, I was kind of worried because although we have a storage closet outside, there are a lot of kids that live here, including my own so I guess I will just do it as I go! Thank you very much for that information, I had no idea!

noni, you just hit upon the best reason of all not to 'master batch"! That lye could cause serious damage if one of the children found it and thougt it lemonade etc...

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Susie
Sometimes A Mistake is so much fun, You just have to do it again!