A number of years ago (9 to be more exact) I made a large batch of phosporic acid using the standard recipe. The acid worked well, but two years ago it started spending most of its time in a solid state rather than liquid. This reqired that the acid be heated before use so that it could be pipetted. After a about an additional 6 month the glass container in which the acid was stored burst in the oven (and what a mess that was). After so many years the acid had dissolved more than half of the glass and rendered the container too weak. I now assume that the problem with the crystallization of the acid was due to the presence of a substantial amount of Si in the acid. I have been tolds that poly bottles will last an even shorter lenght of time, so I quess the message here is that big batches are fine, but don't make them so big that the shelf life approaches a decade. I also wonder if this is a photo induced reaction, so keeping the acid in a dark place might help. Regards, Bob Ilchik Department of Geosciences University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 85721 (520) 621-9792 (W) (520) 621-2672 (FAX) (520) 881-2002 (H)