Formic acid danger from formic acid is from skin or eye contact with the concentrated liquid or vapors. The U.S. OSHA Permissible Exposure Level (PEL) of formic acid vapor in the work environment is 5 parts per million parts of air (ppm). Formic acid Formic acid, systematically named methanoic acid, is the simplest carboxylic acid. The chemical formula is HCOOH or HCOH. It is an important intermediate in chemical synthesis and occurs naturally, most notably in some ants. The word "formic" comes from the Latin word for ant, "formica", referring to its early isolation by the distillation of ant bodies. Esters, salts,
Fatty acid Michel Eugène Chevreul, though he used initially some variant terms, "graisse acide" and "acide huileux" ("acid fat" and "oily acid"). Fatty acids differ by length, often categorized as short to very long. Saturated fatty acids have no C=C double bonds. They have the same formula CH(CH)COOH, with variations in "n". An important saturated fatty acid is stearic acid (n = 16), which when neutralized with lye is the most common form of soap. Unsaturated fatty acids have one or more C=C double bonds. The C=C double bonds can give either "cis" or "trans" isomers. In most naturally occurring unsaturated fatty