Acetone Video Recommendation For 1936 Shilling

Acetone may not be the answer, but it is a harmless experiment - just let it soak for a couple of hours and see if there's an improvement. No video necessary.

Some things to be aware of with acetone:

- It's about as flammable as gasoline, so treat it like gasoline, as far as fire safety is concerned: no smoking, no naked flames or heat sources.

- Many people find the fumes from acetone unpleasant; prolonged exposure to acetone fumes is likely to give you a headache and a small minority of people are acutely sensitive to it and can become severely ill. Use in a well ventilated area, preferably outdoors if you do not have access to a lab-grade fume cabinet.

- Acetone is volatile - meaning it evaporates quickly, compared to water (which is, of course, the main reason for the first two points mentioned). This means that if you leave an opened bottle or jar exposed to the air, it will evaporate away quite quickly. Keep the bottle sealed unless you're actually using it. And if you're using it outdoors as suggested above, avoid direct sunlight.

- Acetone is a very good solvent. It's not a "universal solvent", but it will dissolve more "goo" than water or soap does. One of the things it's very good at dissolving is the oil from the sweat glands in your skin. Try to avoid touching the acetone with your bare fingers, as it will strip the oil out of your fingertips. This dissolved oil will then re-deposit onto anything the acetone later touches - like your coins.

- Acetone is also very good at depolymerizing certain plastics. Watching a tiny sprinkle of acetone "eat" an entire block of styrofoam and turn it into a little puddle of slimy goo is an effective demonstration of the power of acetone to depolymerize polystyrene. Do not use plastic or rubber jars, cups or bottles to hold the acetone unless you've already tested it to see that that particular piece of plastic is immune to acetone's effects. Best to avoid plastic and rubber items altogether; use glass, metal or ceramic items instead (but make sure such items are not coated or painted with something that the acetone will dissolve).

- While acetone is generally regarded as "safe" to handle (regarded as non-toxic and non-carcinogenic), acetone is more poisonous than alcohol, but doesn't give the pleasant effects often attributed to alcohol. So don't drink it, or allow any other lifeforms (pets, children etc) to drink it.

- Finally, disposal. Acetone is completely soluble in water, so the "old-fashioned" disposal method is to simply flush it down the sink with lots of water. Some jurisdictions frown upon flushing flammable solvents into the sewerage system, and some locations use plastic plumbing which could be damaged or degraded if concentrated acetone is poured through it. Acetone is volatile (as noted above), so an alternative is to simply pour it onto a concrete or similar (unpainted) surface and let it evaporate - though this too has drawbacks in terms of atmospheric acetone contributing to air pollution and global warming. Check with your local regulations regarding the best way to dispose of waste acetone, especially if you're generating more than a couple of litres of the stuff.