[functions]

When sodium bicarbonate are added to an acid, neutralization occur. however, Could sodium bicarbonate use to neutralize acid that was spilled on your hand?

[Borek]

I would prefer to wash my hand with as much water as possible. That's the way I was taught - logic behind being that the neutralization reaction is exothermic and may add heat to the chemistry (as if the dilution was not exothermic).

[Mobius1988]

Not to mention the fact that youre adding more chemicals to your hand and youre very unlikely to add the exact amount of base required to neutralise the acid. Youd just end up with a lot of base on your skin.

[Arkcon]

When I was exposed to a small amount of concentrated nitric acid, I thought it was adequate to flush with running cold water.  But people insisted I soak in sodium bicarbonate solution.   Unfortunately, it was a very minor exposure (heh), so I can't qualify how much different the methods were for helping me.

This is a problem.  What do you use for an acid spill -- bicarbonate.  What do you use for an alkaline spill -- I dunno, vinegar?  It matches the theme ... the opposite of the spill, but weak enough to not cause damage on its own.  But really, what laboratory keeps stocks of those two reagents around for spills.  Some labs keep buffers around just for spills.  But you have to inventory those too, discard when expired, re-order, replace, and keep handy.  So its not really as simple as you might expect.

[fledarmus]

Sodium bicarbonate is a very weak base - you could soak your hand in a strong sodium bicarbonate solution for a very long time without doing any damage. The idea that you don't want to add another chemical is a little ludicrous. But the best first response to an acid exposure is still lots and lots of water. After that, the base is sort of overkill. It does seem to take some of the sting out of the burn, but I doubt that has anything to do with actually neutralizing any acid that is left behind.

[Arkcon]

During annual fire training at work, the fireman asked us -- can you use a fire extinguisher on someone who's on fire?  I kinda balked at the idea -- if they're burnt badly, and their tissues are exposed, is it really OK to douse a person in dry flame retardant chemical?  And the fireman assured me that yes, the various dry chemicals used in general purpose fire extinguishers is non-toxic, and definitely preferable to burning alive.  So that's another vote the safety of these weak bases as externally safe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_extinguisher#Dry_chemical

[Borek]

Neutralizing NaOH with bicarbonate yields carbonate - assuming concentration of 0.5-1 M we are still talking about pH around 11.5-12.

[crosemeyer]

A lab I worked in kept those old powder soap dispensers filled with bicarbonate near acid work stations.  There is no reason not to use it to neutralize small spills.

[Jasim]

I was a laboratory safety manager for a couple of years and have had extensive laboratory safety training. This is a question that I have considered and researched before. The consensus is that flushing with cold water is the best recommendation.

Acids, and most chemicals, are going to be washed away pretty quickly with plenty of running cold water. In all of the labs I've worked in it would have been much faster for me to get to a sink or water station than it would have been to get out some weak base. Neutralizing the acid really doesn't help to get the acid/chemicals off of the skin.

For any chemical contact exposure it is recommended to flush the area thoroughly with cold water for at least 15 minutes. For most minor and incidental exposure I have found that only a couple of minutes is adequate.

[Sophia7X]

When sodium bicarbonate are added to an acid, neutralization occur. however, Could sodium bicarbonate use to neutralize acid that was spilled on your hand?

I believe the first action you should do is to rinse the area with copious amounts of cold water. Then using a solution of sodium bicarbonate shouldn't be a harmful idea. However, it's not too hard to completely wash off acid so I don't think sodium bicarbonate is totally necessary.

[XGen]

If you are asking about a problem on a chemistry olympiad exam, the problem specified solid sodium bicarbonate.. which doesn't sound too effective to me.

However, in theory it would be viable. The problem with the idea is mentioned above; you do not want to add more chemicals to your hands, and it is also a very very weak base.