• Question: how does acid burn

    Asked by ledw to Christina, Colin, Jess, Samaneh, Steve on 18 Jun 2013. This question was also asked by caitlingriffin1994.
    • Photo: Jess Bean

      Jess Bean answered on 18 Jun 2013:

      Acid causes a particular kind of burn called a chemical burn (instead of a thermal burn that is caused by heat).

      The best way to think about how acid damages skin is to think about it’s protons. Acids are defined as acids because they contain an excess of protons (hydrogen ions). When the acid hits the skin there are now more protons on the outside of the skin than inside, which is bad. To stop this, your body pushes water through the skin from your cells to try to dilute the acid. The problem is, this loss of water from your cells damages them too, causing a burn.

      This is why in burn first aid you should always run the burn under water – if the water is from a tap instead of your cells they won’t get damaged so much!

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