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,
Acid strength value of –15, making it a more strongly protonating medium than 100% sulfuric acid and thus, by definition, a superacid. (To prevent ambiguity, in the rest of this article, "strong acid" will, unless otherwise stated, refer to an acid that is strong as measured by its p"K" value (p"K" < –1.74). This usage is consistent with the common parlance of most practicing chemists.) When the acidic medium in question is a dilute aqueous solution, the "H" is approximately equal to the pH value, which is a negative logarithm of the concentration of aqueous H in solution. The pH of a