Re: open message to Jim Humble

Hello Jon,

I have theories, not facts.

If stomach acid behaves similar to HCl, then I have shown that HCl doesn't not have an effect on ClO2.

In theory, since chlorous acid is an unstable acid, it is possible that stomach acid may have some effect upon it, but once again the testing did not show an observable increase in free ClO2 in solution. Unfortunately, the resolution of the test strips is not that great. I ended up having a sample of the solution before adding the HCl, and another sample after the addition of the HCl, and then I simultaneously dipped a test strip in each solution and compared the dye color side by side.

Now, it is possible that if the sodium chlorite solution is not completely activated, the addition of HCl would activate the remaining sodium chlorite with a sudden release of ClO2. This may account for the change to using a stronger acid for activation and also for the ratio of acid to chlorite solution used in the protocol.

Tom