White Spirit
By John Wolff
Chuck Walker enquired about the content of the Australian "White Spirit". It is a common name for a light, clear solvent that can be bought in supermarkets.
Our local chemical names are defined in the Commonwealth EPA "Australian Inventory of Chemical Substances" (AICS). It lists two likely candidates, along with their international chemical ID numbers:
White Spirit: 8008-20-6, Kerosene, petroleum
White Spirits: 8042-47-5, White mineral oil, petroleum.
An older reference lists "White Spirit" as a turpentine substitute, presumably what we buy here as Mineral Turpentine (in 4-litre cans for cleaning paint brushes).
Worksafe Australia's Chemical Hazard database defines "White Spirits" as "Stoddard Solvent 8052-41-3", which another reference finally reveals is the US name for a common petroleum-based dry cleaning solvent.
We foreigners often have the name problem in reverse, like when you say to thin the Carters Rubber Cement with naphtha. We can guess the rubber cement, but the name "naphtha" is not in general use in Australia, and is not listed in the AICS. I'm sure it's a petroleum derivative, but is it close enough to "white spirits" (with or without the "s")?
John Wolff, Australia
[ Editors note:
[
[ The International Standards Organization (ISO) should have a document
[ relating the traditional names with the accepted chemical formulae,
[ and recommending a standard common name for these important industrial
[ chemicals. Could someone look into this, please?
[
[ And watch for a reference to "Kentucky Spirits", "White Lightning",
[ and so forth. I wonder what ISO says about these traditional American
[ bootleg whiskies! (Several decades ago the American Standards Associ-
[ ation published a humorous paper on "The Standard Dry Martini"!)
[
[ Robbie Rhodes |
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Mechanical
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