ANSWERS: 1
  • If by corrosive you mean ability to oxidize I would go for sulphuric acid. If you mean ability to cause burns to flesh both are nasty, but 98% sulphuric will literally suck the water out of flesh, which is tantamount to a burn (it's the H+ ion that does it so HCl would burn also. The sulphuric is also quite thick compared to the HCl, so wouldn't wash off as fast, plus would get very hot when you put water on it. If you mean ability to attack metals it would very much depend on the metal. If the metal has a relatively insoluble sulphate (like lead) the surface of the metal would get covered in the sulphate and stop corroding. On the other hand, many metals (like iron) can actually form complexes with the Cl- ion, so this would enhance corrosion by HCl relative to H2SO4. You also have to consider how much water is oresent to dissolve any soluble corrosion products formed and get them off the surface of the material being corroded. In this case the HCL wins out. In other words you have to ask "corrosive to what ?" and "how ?"

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