Clearing snow and ice from marble steps

Barbara Appelbaum <aandh [at] mindspring__com> writes

>Thanks to Susanne Sutherland from Parks Canada I got information on
>a product called EcoTraction.  The stuff is harmless for
>groundwater, animals, and vegetation.  According to Ellen Watson,
>their customer service rep, it doesn't scratch, and it tracks less
>than other materials.  It also takes less to do the job.

I checked the MSDS sheet for the product "EcoTraction".

They do not provide the mineral composition.  They state it is a
"Hydrothermal volcanic mineral" with the empirical formula:

    (K,Ca,Na) 2O-Al2O3-10SiO2-6H20

This would be a zeolite mineral, possibly clinoptilolite or a
similar, related species.  The hardness of these minerals is
typically 3-5-4 which is enough harder than calcite (H=3) to expect
it to scratch marble.  I believe the customer service rep's
statement "it doesn't scratch" would not be true in relation to
marble steps.

Rob


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 23:41
                 Distributed: Saturday, April 24, 2010
                       Message Id: cdl-23-41-005
                                  ***