Sulphuric acid refers to an oily and viscous liquid chemical produced by reacting water with sulphur trioxide (Louie, 2008). It is among the dibasic chemical acids that are colorless and highly corrosive when pure. Sulphuric acid is a dehydrating and oxidizing agent, which chars various organic materials. This acid is a useful industrial chemical that has numerous applications in many industries, including manufacturing, refining, and energy production industries (Stoker, 2010). This discussion will consider the application of sulphuric acid in the iron and steel making industry, molar mass and structure of sulphuric acid, and uses of sulphuric acid in other industries.
Iron and steel are vulnerable to the process of rusting in the presence of oxygen, water, and other conditions such saline and acidic conditions, which accelerate rusting. Therefore, it is necessary to protect iron and steel from rusting by galvanizing or electroplating them. The iron and steel making plants use sulphuric acid to remove oxides from steel and iron before the process of galvanization or electroplating (Stoker, 2010). The chemical formula of sulphuric acid is H2SO4, which shows that it is a dibasic acid because of the two hydrogen atoms. Sulphuric acid has a molar mass of 98 grams because the molar masses of the hydrogen atom, sulphur atom, and oxygen atom are 1 gram, 32 grams, and 16 grams respectively (Myers, 2003). Calculation of the total molar mass is {2(1) + 32 + 4(16)} grams = 98 grams. The structure of sulphuric acid is as follows:
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Sulphuric acid is useful in other industries that deal with the manufacture of fertilizers, rayon, lead-acid batteries, just to mention a few. This acid aids in the creation of phosphoric acid, which manufactures phosphate fertilizers. In the lead-acid batteries, dilute sulphuric acid serves as an electrolyte (Stoker, 2010).
In conclusion, sulphuric acid has been one of the most useful industrial chemicals. Many industries, such as iron and steel making industry, fertilizer manufacturing industry, lead-acid manufacturing industry, and many other industries use sulphuric acid as a raw material (Stoker, 2010). Therefore, it has been necessary to understand its physical and chemical properties, including molar mass, chemical structure, chemical formula, and physical appearance (Louie, 2008).