Improvised Gas Mask

Step 14 What Dissolves Aluminum?

The next day I noticed the aluminum was full of holes. Something in the charcoal had dissolved a lot of holes in it. Maybe sodium hydroxide from wet ashes? The foil had been laying on a steel cookie sheet with wet charcoal on top of it. Had I accidentally made a battery?

Comments

[MalleusDei]

If I am not mistaken if you run water through some types of wood ashes you can end up with lye. Perhaps that ate through the foil. Excellent instructable by the way.