On Wed, 19 Apr 1995, Jack Reed wrote:

> I have several pounds of EDTA kicking around my office that I'd like to 
> get rid of.  When used according to directions, EDTA will reduce and/or 
> prevent sulfation of battery plates, the number one killer of young 
> batteries.
> 

Jack, whats the principle behind this? I use EDTA
(ethylamine-diamine-tetra-acetic acid) at work in some buffer recipes. It
functions, in my applications, as a divalent cation chelator. In other
words, it binds ions like Ca+2, Mg+2. Its this property that is used in
the somewhat controversial arteriosclerosis treatment. The EDTA is
supposed to bind and solubilize the Ca+2 (calcium ions) in plaques.
The electrochemistry of the lead acid battery is well known, but not by me
right now! I forget what the valence state(s) of the sulfur/sulphate are.

Alistair, who is going to get the right textbook