Cleaning clogged cutting tools.

[tonyfoale]

The procedure for bases is the same as that for acids. The mnemonic goes like this...

Add acid/base to water
Like a fellow oughter

Stupid, I know, but stupid mnemonics tend to stick in the brain better than grammatically correct ones.

Marv,

I had not heard that one before.
These aide-memoire are no use to me. I have always thought that I might as well learn the real thing directly than take a longer route. I know that I am probably in the minority with this. I know very little about anything but I understand a lot. For example using this case of which to add to the other, I would not remember the order but I understand that by adding the water to the NaOH there would initially be little heat capacity in the mixture to absorb the heat produced, whereas adding the NaOH to the water gives you the whole of the water to be used as a heat sink. So I would work out the order each time that it was in question.

For me, remembering is difficult, mnemonics more so, but understanding from first principles is easy.