Extracting Hydrochloric Acid From Your Stomach

Factual Questions
1

Is it possible to safely extract the hydrochloric acid from your stomach and use it to dissolve aluminum or steel? If so, how long would it take?

A method of extraction could be a stomach acid test which involves the subject fasting for a few hours, then having a tube shoved down their esophagus and into their stomach and then extracting the secreted acid. Would this acid be feasible to use directly after it is removed from the body?

I understand the hydrochloric acid has a pH level between one and two. Once the acid is released, the liver released bile to counter-act with the acid. Is it possible to prevent this in order to remove the acid from your stomach?

And (last question), can I use "betaine hydrochloride ", which is a supplemental source for the acid - and somehow use that to dissolve metal?

2

I can’t help you with the physiology. But if you just want a source of hydrochloric acid, you can just buy it. It’s sold under the name “muriatic acid”, and is sometimes used for cleaning. I should warn you, though, that although it’s the lowest pH (and therefore most acidic) of all acids, it eats through most substances relatively slowly. You’d probably get much more dramatic results from sulfuric or nitric acid.

3

You can get Muriatic acid at any pool supply store, we used it to clean the pool decks where I worked.

4

The HCl in your stomach is only about a 0.5% solution. Commercial muriatic acid is at least 30%. You’d have a difficult time dissolving steel with stomach acid.

5

It’s interesting that the name “muriatic acid” is still in use in America. Up until now I’ve only ever seen it in history-of-science books.

6

Another name for HCl is ‘spirit of salt(s)’- it’s often found in limescale removal products.

7

HCl is not the strongest acid. Technically in aqueous solution all strong acids have the same strength since they completelt dissociate into H3O+. Hydroiodic acid would be a much stronger than HCl. When comparing acid strengths at this level, one wants to look at how weak the conjugate base is. The weaker the conjugate base is, the stronger the acid. I am havent looked at the numbers, but I would be surprised to find out that bisulfate is a stronger base than chloride. That would imply that sulfuric acid is the stronger acid.

8

I heard that “muriatic acid” is used to label hydrochloric acid as a code to keep mischievous people from buying it.

9

Yes, but that’s not as cool.

“I rescued those kids from the trapped bus using nothing more than the power of my own stomach juices!!!”

10

couldn’t you just put in a porthole like they did to cows[sup]*[/sup]? Then you could just scoop out whatever you needed.

[sub]*I’m pretty sure I heard this somewhere and am not making it up[/sub]

11

Good, I didn’t make it up.

12

We’ve got a cow with a stomach porthole at NC State. It’s not much to look at, really – just a regular cow with a (medical-grade) plastic porthole in its side. They bring it out to the Brickyard during Agricultural Awareness Week; every now and then, some animal rights people write letters to the student newspaper about it.

The cow doesn’t seem to be aware of the hole.

13

Could that same idea be applied to a human stomach? (The size of the hole would be significantly smaller)

14

Sure, just apply the same procedure that you’d use to put in a PEG tube, just put in a sealed tube with transparent ends. Or put a normal PEG tube in, and stick a fiberscope into it.

15

I have a colostomy bag

16

I can’t read that website (it has a really, really, really, really tiny font, and won’t let me change it), but some people do have stomach portholes, more or less.

They’re called PEG tubes.

Generally you only use them to put stuff in, not suck it out, but they do flow backwards sometimes, so I suppose you could.