Hypochlorous Acid

(Chem.) An acid formed by pouring a current of perfectly dry chlorine through a tube filled with well-dried oxide of mercury procured by precipitation from a solution of corrosive sublimate by means of potash. H. A. is produced, which may be collected, as a deep-red liquid, in a receiver kept cool by a mixture of ice and salt. It boils at about 68°, emitting a vapor of a deeper color than chlorine. It is easily decomposed with explosive violence by the mere heat of the hand. Water di olves 200 times its bulk of H. A., forming a pale-yellow solu. tion. When concentrated it is easily decomposed, the action of light being sufficient to eliminate chlorine from the compound. With bases it forms the hypochlorites, which are po e ed of powerful bleaching properties; in fact, it is now the generally received opinion that the chloride of lime owes its bleaching power to a certain portion of hypochlorite of lime which it contains. Equiv., 43.5. Sp. gr., 2.977. Combin ing volume, 2. Form., HCIO.