Make sure there's a filter on the barrel to strain out leaves and organic debris. To make these types of soaps, use sodium hydroxide, which you can buy from home improvement stores, farm supplies, and online. "This is useful info to make "soft green soap." It is a chemical base and comes packaged as a white solid. Not quite! Replace a bucket under the holes in the barrel. Lye is so toxic that it will eat through certain substances, causing it to damage many materials. Replace the bucket with a fresh one to catch the rest of the water. But there’s no reason to overhype what happened here and spin it as “the sky is falling” when, in fact, the sky is not falling. The basic chemistry set is demystified, and it can be seen that, "This article really helped me learn how to make Lye from wood ashes in order to make soap instead of using Sodium, "Thank you! By using our site, you agree to our. In that respect, this is at least somewhat of a success story. Sodium hydroxide, also called lye, is used to treat water acidity but the compound is also found in cleaning supplies such as soaps and … Great stuff. Yup! by volume and about 27 oz. The most reliable way to check lye water's strength is to use a pH meter, but if you don't have one, you can use a potato. It's not a type of soap you make intentionally (out of lye water or otherwise), but rather a residue that some soaps leave on surfaces lie shower curtains. ): When mixing water and lye the first step is to measure the correct amounts into separate containers. Potassium hydroxide lye is not ideal for making hard bar soaps. A lot of times the people who carry out cases like this—of which there are not that many—were disgruntled employees who already knew the system and how to manipulate it. Oftentimes the thing about targeting an industrial control system is that, in order to have the effect you want as an attacker, you need to understand the system reasonably well. The lye water that comes out the second time will be stronger. Better known as lye, sodium hydroxide is used in small amounts to treat the acidity of water and to remove metals. And remember that lye is caustic, so be very careful when retrieving your potato! To make lye water, drill 6 small holes in the base of a barrel and place a 1-2 inch layer of stones on the bottom of the barrel. If it’s an insider, then that explains why they’re targeting that facility—but we don’t know that. But on the other hand, we have a case from a couple of years ago in which Iranian hackers were indicted by the U.S. government for breaking into the computer networks of this old dam that no one really was using much anymore. Even a small potato has a lot of starch and water in it, though, which means that it won't dissolve immediately when placed in lye. If ingested, the contaminated water with a concentrated level of lye could "damage the human cells," he said. What should I do with the materials left in the barrel after the process is complete? This chemical (better known as lye) was originally set at 100 parts per million, an innocuous amount that helps control the water’s pH levels. Lime soap is also known as soap scum. Working with lye is dangerous, and requires a number of safety precautions. Place a small potato in the lye water. There are four different tests you can use to test the strength of the lye: Use pH test strips. You're looking for a pH of 13. Using these as a potash source would yield KOH, potassium hydroxide. The straw and stones will act as a filter. ", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsfskVr_raY, http://www.countryfarm-lifestyles.com/make-lye.html#.WJs49X9vtf0, http://www.lovinsoap.com/2015/12/how-to-pick-containers-for-making-soap/, Please consider supporting our work with a contribution to wikiHow. "This is obviously a significant and potentially dangerous increase. Exactly! Should that type of program be prohibited for plants like this? Fortunately, a staff member noticed the attack as it was happening and restored the correct settings before anything changed. Please consider supporting our work with a contribution to wikiHow. Then collect the white ashes and store them in metal containers. Concentrate the holes near the center of the barrel so the water will drain into a bucket. Castile soap is a moisturizing soap made with olive oil. No, you cannot use coal. wikiHow's. Every dollar contributed enables us to keep providing high-quality how-to help to people like you. wikiHow is where trusted research and expert knowledge come together. Explore our digital archive back to 1845, including articles by more than 150 Nobel Prize winners. Oldsmar is a small city with a population of 15,000. On February 5, an unknown cyberattacker tried to poison the water supply of Oldsmar, Fla. City officials say the targeted water-treatment facility had a software remote-access system that let staff control the plant’s computers from a distance. "Lye" most commonly refers to sodium hydroxide (NaOH), but historically has been used for potassium hydroxide (KOH).. Today, lye is commercially manufactured using a membrane cell chloralkali process.It is supplied in … Doing so can cause the lye to expand, or erupt, out of the container. To make bar soap, you need to purchase lye made from sodium hydroxide instead. References The best hardwoods for lye water include ash, hickory, beech, sugar maple, and buckeye. When all the lye water has drained through a second time, test the pH again. To learn how to test the strength of your lye water, keep reading! All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published, This article was co-authored by our trained team of editors and researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness. Learn more... Lye is an alkaline solution that’s often used for washing, making soaps, and curing certain foods. Lye is sometimes called caustic soda because it has a pH of about 13, which means it’s extremely alkaline and can burn and corrode skin, organic tissue, certain plastics, and other materials. Read on for another quiz question. A hacker gained unauthorized entry to the system controlling the water treatment plant of a Florida city of 15,000 and tried to taint the water supply with a caustic chemical, exposing a danger cybersecurity experts say has grown as systems become both more computerized and accessible via the internet. Sodium hydroxide, also known as lye, is the main ingredient in liquid drain cleaners. NEVER add water to your lye! If you’re truly a foreign attacker, you want to do a lot of reconnaissance on the system. Always Add Lye to Water (Never Water to Lye! You guys are really great. © 2021 Scientific American, a Division of Springer Nature America, Inc. Support our award-winning coverage of advances in science & technology. Can I make it into crystals by boiling it down? [But in this case] it is too soon to say, ‘This is a disgruntled employee,’ and it’s definitely too soon to say, ‘Oh, this is Iran or Russia and it’s a clear act of war.’ The speculation doesn’t help right now. We are on a remote copra plantation. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/c\/cc\/Make-Lye-Step-1-Version-3.jpg\/v4-460px-Make-Lye-Step-1-Version-3.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/c\/cc\/Make-Lye-Step-1-Version-3.jpg\/aid6808-v4-728px-Make-Lye-Step-1-Version-3.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":728,"bigHeight":546,"licensing":"