Sulfuric acid (alternative spelling sulphuric acid) is a highly corrosive strong mineral acid with the molecular formula H2SO4. The historical name of this acid is oil of vitriol.
The sulfuric acid is a colorless to slightly yellow liquid which is clear or viscous and is soluble in water at all concentrations. It is a dibasic acid. The corrosiveness of it is mainly due to its strong acidic nature, strong dehydrating property and if concentrated strong oxidizing property.
It has many applications and is a central substance in the chemical industry. Principal uses include lead-acid batteries for cars and other vehicles, mineral processing, fertilizer manufacturing, oil refining, wastewater processing, and chemical synthesis.
The Ijen volcano complex is a group of stratovolcanoes, in East Java, Indonesia. It is inside a larger caldera Ijen, which is about 20 kilometers wide. The Gunung Merapi stratovolcano is the highest point of that complex. The name of this volcano resembles that of a different volcano, Mount Merapi in central Java, also known as Gunung Merapi; there is also a third volcano named Marapi in Sumatra. The name "Merapi" means "fire" in the Indonesian language.
West of Gunung Merapi is the Ijen volcano, which has a one-kilometer-wide turquoise-colored acid crater lake. The lake is the site of a labor-intensive sulfur mining operation, in which sulfur-laden baskets are carried by hand from the crater floor. Many other post-caldera cones and craters are located within the caldera or along its rim. The largest concentration of post-caldera cones forms an east/west-trending zone across the southern side of the caldera. The active crater at Kawah Ijen has an equivalent radius of 361 metres (1,184 ft), a surface of 0.41 square kilometres (0.16 sq mi). It is 200 metres (660 ft) deep and has a volume of 36 cubic hectometres (29,000 acre·ft).
In 2008, explorer George Kourounis took a small rubber boat out onto the acid lake to measure its acidity. The pH of the water in the crater was measured to be 0.5 due to sulfuric acid.