SOME leaking electrolytes are corrosive when "in the wild".
When electrolytic caps short is is due to "thorns" growing on the plates and punching through, shorting the plates together. Then they heat up and blow. When they go, they often take out other components around them.
That failure mechanism is NOT one I have heard of for Electrolytics before. Mind you its a long time since I studied the internal behaviour of components in detail.
Is it even possible to redeposit metallic Aluminium by electrolysis from an aqueous solution?
I strongly suspect you are confusing it with the common failure mechanism for NiCd cells.
Electrolytics commonly develop a reduced capacitance, increased leakage current and a higher ESR (effective series resistance) then heat up and vent or blow due to internal gas or even steam pressure. Exactly what is going on during this process, I dont know in detail, but I've replaced enough of them to be VERY familiar with the results :-)
I am curious... what state do you live in? a New England one I hope !!
Nope...further south and it aint no state.
Almost certainly that was due to contaminates that came with the PCBs, (PCDFs/furons or PCDDs/dioxins) not the PCBs themselves. Many, many studies have shown no acute toxicity from PCB exposure either dermal, inhaled or ingested.
Common table salt is toxic. Are you familar with LD50 and LC50 measures of toxicity? You cannot compare LD50 across species, and I don't know any PCBs LD50 for humans. The human LD50 for salt is about 3000mg/kg.
Oh, one other thing to note while reading studies on health affects, "toxic" does not mean fatal. It just means bad effect, eg
''Clinical studies of the health effects of PCB exposure have shown that the skin is the only organ system affected by PCB exposure and that the skin disorders, primarily chloracne, occurred only in persons occupationally exposed to relatively high PCB concentrations. In contrast to experimental animal studies, other organ systems such as the liver and immune and hematopoietic systems of humans are not affected. The divergence between the effects observed in humans and animals may reflect differences in interspecies susceptibility and exposure. The authors conclude that there appears to be little basis for the concern for internal organ system toxicity, especially since use and disposal of PCBs is now strictly controlled. (James et al, 1993)''
and
''Both Yusho and Yu-Cheng specimens contained numerous isomers of trichlorinated and hexachlorinated dibenzofurans. The oils involved in both incidents contained similar compositions of PCQs; they appeared to have similar ratios of the six types of PCQ in their basic makeup. In general, Yusho and Yu-Cheng samples were composed of similar congeners; the tissue levels of PCQs, PCDFs, and PCBs remained elevated and clinical symptoms persisted for over 10 years. In occupationally PCB exposed workers, on the other hand, dermal lesions and other symptoms disappeared rapidly after discontinuation of PCB handling, although PCB levels remained high. The authors conclude that PCDFs and PCQs appear to be strongly associated with the development of Yusho and Yu-Cheng. (Miyata et al, 1985)''
sdb
Didn't the new President of the Ukraine suffer from dioxin poisoning? It is said to have been fed to him by his political opponents. Gave him a hell of a case of chloracne that has completely disfigured him.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.