wannafbody said:
As for the ammonia issue, did you tell someone you add ammonia to OC or did they misunderstand? I know that ammonia is used to strip waxes so adding it is a bit of a mystery to me. Just curious.
What is it with the ammonia? Someone said it had a strong smell, like ammonia...were they a smell & taste expert who can identify a chemical compound accurately by smell? Ammonia may be used to strip floor waxes, but we've established that Opti-Coat isn't remotely like a floor wax, so why would you presume that Opti-Coat would be harmed by ammonia, anyway? Besides, we are talking about a chemical reaction taking place (unlike a carnauba wax which is simply dissolved in solvent, and after application the solvent evaporates leaving the wax), so even if there were an ammonia compound present, it would be part of a reaction and would likely be converted or consumed as part of the reaction.
As in my previous silicone caulk example, many of them are acetic acid cure; but when they are cured, do they still smell like vinegar? Do they still have acetic acid in them after they are cured? If you take, say, a tube of two-part 5-minute epoxy, individually those compounds may have an odor, and be an irritant, but mix them together, let them fully cure, and you have a resultant product that is fairly inert, without a significant odor, and one you can expose to your skin without irritation.
People (like Dr. G) actually go to school for a long time to learn about these kinds of things, and how to design chemical products based on knowledge and understanding (like any kind of engineering or applied science); why do you think you as a layman will really be able to understand the intricacies of a product like this? I can just picture Dr. G explaining in great detail the molecular theory of Opti-Coat to you, and at the end you saying "ok, but why do you add ammonia to it?"
