dejennings - 26-1-2003 at 12:00
Hi, I'm working with a student who needs to water plants with caffeinated water for a science fair experiment. We just discovered that our anyhdrous
caffeine would not go into solution with water, though with warm water it goes in and stays in solution. What's the best way for us to dissolve
caffeine without adding so much that we ruin our experiment? The control plants would of course be watered with uncaffeinated water.
Thanks.
Polverone - 26-1-2003 at 20:43
If the caffeine dissolves in warm water, use warm water. Does it come out of solution as the water comes down to room temperature? If not, you can
just prepare the solution ahead of time with warm water.
Barring that, dissolve the caffeine in warm water and water the control plants with warm water as well. Maybe you're just expecting the caffeine to
dissolve too easily? According to a book on alkaloids I have here, it takes 46 mL of water to dissolve a gram of caffeine at 25 degrees Celsius.
Darkfire - 26-1-2003 at 21:11
How do you think that you can change the properties of a substance, if it wont disolve in cold water its not going to. It might dissolve in another
substance that may disolve in water but that only adds more varibles.
CTR
dejennings - 27-1-2003 at 06:21
well, it doesn't seem to come out of solution as warm water cools, so I guess we are okay after all!