Quote: (Originally Posted by
lizardland)
Unfortunately it doesn't. I did an experiment a few years ago with piles of fine grade lime, a spoonful of lime in the bottom of a pint glass full of water a pile on the ground open to the elements and a thin layer on the surface. After a year there was no change in any of the three, they all looked like the day I put them there -- and this is in a very wet, rainy climate. I also made another jar of lime/water solution and left various materials in it, a piece of mild steel, a piece of stainless, a piece of new brass (a new Swagelok fitting), a piece of aluminium and a piece of sheet neoprene. Again, all the materials sat in the wet lime for a year, there was some surface rust on the mild steel and the brass fitting had turned green but apart from that no corrosion whatsoever. It's amazing what you think of to do when you're bored
No surprise here. The soluability of chalk in water is very low. (Which is why a solution of CaOH is a good reagens for CO2 chalk is formed dispersing the light the 'solution' becomes white)
To really get rid of the chalk you need weathering (moist & frost do a great job) and an accid. In lakes and seas you won't find a truly accidic environment and weathering by moist freezing is absent. Some rotting processes produce citric accid. Which is why it may work in grass (with mosses) and in a compost heap. Dumping it on dive site isn't very elegant that I have to agree to. (unless on open sea)