Note 53 — Chapter XI · THE HALOGENS: CHLORINE, BROMINE, IODINE, AND FLUORINE

The corrosive action of hydrofluoric acid on glass and similar siliceous compounds is based upon the fact that it acts on silica, SiO2, as we shall consider more fully in describing that compound, forming gaseous silicon fluoride, SiO2 + 4HF = SiF4 + 2H2O. Silica, on the other hand, forms the binding (acid) element of glass and of the mass of mineral substances forming the salts of silica. When it is removed the cohesion is destroyed. This is made use of in the arts, and in the laboratory, for etching designs and scales, &c., on glass. In engraving on glass the surface is covered with a varnish composed of four parts of wax and one part of turpentine. This varnish is not acted on by hydrofluoric acid, and it is soft enough to allow of designs being drawn upon it whose lines lay bare the glass. The drawing is made with a steel point, and the glass is afterwards laid in a lead trough in which a mixture of fluor spar and sulphuric acid is placed. The sulphuric acid must be used in considerable excess, as otherwise transparent lines are obtained (owing to the formation of hydrofluosilicic acid). After being exposed for some time, the varnish is removed (melted) and the design drawn by the steel point is found reproduced in dull lines. The drawing may be also made by the direct application of a mixture of a silicofluoride and sulphuric acid, which forms hydrofluoric acid.