Mixing mineral oil with acid?

Question

What do you get when you mix nitric acid with mineral oil?

Answer 1

Most strong inorganic acids like nitric are looking for metals to latch onto and form salts. Since mineral oil does not contain metals (it is a blend of hydrocarbons), there might be some minor reactons of trace impurities, but I think that there would be just a mixture of the acid and the oil. Since the nitric acid is a solution in water, the acid would tend to float on top. They would probably separate after a while, like oil and vinegar salad dressing, but you'd better be careful not to eat this stuff!

6 DEC 06, 1948 hrs, GMT.