Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => Cells, Microbes & Viruses => Topic started by: stana on 03/02/2008 19:22:17

Title: Water Specimens
Post by: stana on 03/02/2008 19:22:17

Hey guys. I was using microscopes in my sciene lesson on friday, and i was wonderng, if i had a bath full of water..and i put a tiny little amount of some chemical in..if i took a specimen of the water..would i be able to see this chemical..if i extracted the water from another point in the bath

Thats complicated..but if you need me to simplify it just say and i will...


Thanks

Title: Water Specimens
Post by: Carol-A on 04/02/2008 08:02:31

It would depend on the chemical, how much you put in, and how long you left it!! If, for example, you put half a teaspoon of salt in one end of the bath, it would dissolve, and eventually all the bath would have a little salt that you would be able to detect. If the chemical dissolved in water, then it would gradually diffuse to the whole bath, but if it was insoluble, then it would not.

Title: Water Specimens
Post by: stana on 04/02/2008 16:29:55

I understand now!

Thanks!

Title: Water Specimens
Post by: MayoFlyFarmer on 05/02/2008 16:30:46

if your question is: would the chemical spread to other parts of the tub?" them the easy answer is yes.  Entropy dictates that the cemical would spread out and disperse as much as it posibbly could.  Granted there are some exceptions to this.  if there is some sort of force keeping the "chemical" in one place such as the bonds between the atoms that make up the chemical, it obviously wouldn't disperse.  For example, if you put a drop of oil, or a chunk of diamond into the water, they would all stay in one spot.

If your question is: "would you be able to SEE the chemical in the microscope" that all depends on what the chemical is, and what sort of microscope you are using.  many chemicals disolved in water would be very difficult to detect even at high concentrations using a ligh microscope.