Is there any way to tell what a solvent is, i have a very large industrial sized container of "solvents" and i dont know what it is. I would like to know how pure it is as well? I've evaporated a little on a mirror and it leaves no residue, Its used as a material thinner and it smells like white spirit?

Any help much appreciated.

Solvents or solvent?

does it matter?

What do you have in mind with your mystery substance?

have you tried seeing what it does with paint? is it stinky? look up a lab reference and look up solvents like
-hydrochloric acid
-sulfuric acid
-dcm or methyline chloride
-acetone
-toluene
-xylene
look up the respective boiling points of these and u could distill them or something im doubting u have a distillation aparatus why am i bothering.
-kap-

your probably best off just leaving it alone. solvents for the most part are cheap and easy to come by.
-kap-

[This message has been edited by kap (edited 02-28-2002).]

I thought I answered this before?

It is most likely a mix of straight chain hydrocarbons, if it is very volatile it is probably hexane/heptane etc, also known as varsol/petroleum ether/white gas. If it higher boiling it is probably naptha, a longer chain petroleum distillate.

Given these are the most common solvents, and most likely to be found in large quantities. Plus it is a material thinner. It evaporates clean, this indicates no non volatile contaminants, it is pure.

This is what it is, I'd bet money on it.

kap you are a tard, HCl and H2SO4 aren't solvents, methylene chloride is not a thinner and it has a distinctive smell(yummy, carcinogenic), acetone again with a yummy smell, toluene and xylene are kinda expensive, it could be but I doubt it, plus they smell subtly different.

bye now. Bee safe with any experiments you do. I still have scars(little drops) from my run in with pure H2SO4 while wearing no shirt.