more salty talk

[redace1960]

what do you suppose the contaminant level in ordinary table salt
to be? heres why: two separate jars. both sterilized and sealed.
one jar with salted plain tap water. the other plain tap water.
in three days time the salted water was cloudy; uniformly whitish
translucent throughout while the plain tapwater was still clear.
i just did this experiment because i thought i was imagining things
when it happened the first time in some brining water in the fridge.
(yes, i do TOO have a life.) brand of salt:
safeway store brand iodized salt.
is it the iodine? this is buggin' the crap out of me.

[KeeperOfTheGood]

Hey oh

Um, is it only when cold? Does it dissapear at room temp? You do know what flockulation is? Is it a metal lid? Did you look under your bed for little green men? Are you in Australia? Did you face east while trying this? Does it taste alright? Brine shrimp? Have you tried putting some under a microscope slide? You know the saturations? Unsaturated, saturated, and supersaturated, and that the colder the liquide the less salt it can hold?

[phatch]

Temperature can cause clouding in some salty liquids. Refrigerated urine is cloudy for example. (I have too many medical career friends).

Phil

[redace1960]

looks more like a precipitation.
(i ruled out the green australian men under the bed; they
swore up and down they were facing east at the time and
didn't whiz in my experiment.)
i'm going to leave it set-it's at room temp, by the way-
and see if crud collects on the bottom.
irregardless, i believe its time to look into kosher salt.

[KeeperOfTheGood]

Hey oh

Then you probably got some flocculation! (or however they want to call it these days)

Colloid Stability

The stability of solids and suspensions can be interpreted by the same laws that apply to colloidal solutions. The aggregation of colloids is known as coagulation or flocculation. In the past, these two terms were used interchangeably, but now there is a trend to distinguish between aggregation due to simple ions (coagulation) and aggregation due to polymers (flocculation). Except under idealized lab conditions, colloid stability is a very complex issue. Several forces can operate between the colloids; some attractive, others repulsive. These forces may react in different ways upon variations in the conditions (pH, T, salt concentration, etc.) surrounding them. One must also consider the rate at which particle surface properties can alter relative to the rate at which two particles approach one another. Both static and dynamic properties are of significance.

The most frequently occurring forces between colloids are: van der Waalls forces, electrostatic forces, and forces due to adsorbed macromolecules. Adsorbed polymers or lower weight materials can only operate if they are present, but that is frequently the case in natural waters. In addition, specific forces may act in special cases. For instance, magnetic colloid particles may attract each other magnetically or chemical bonds may be found between two colloids.

Some of these forces, such as van der Waals and electrostatic repulsion, have a long range. This implies that they can operate over several tens of nanometers. It is on this principle that the fundamental picture of colloid stability is based; solutions stabilized by electric repulsion between particles can be destabilized by electrolytes. Chemical bonds are short-range, and therefore can only come into operation if there are no other forces keeping approaching particles apart.

The flocculation of particles in a liquid depends on collisions between particles, caused by their relative motion. This relative motion may be caused by Brownian movement, by fluid movement giving rise to velocity gradients, or by particle motion due to an external force (e.g. gravity).

This is from:

http://www.rpi.edu/dept/chem-eng/Bio.../COAG/coag.htm


Hehe, hope this kida helps, or at least gives you some ideas too.

[redace1960]

well there you go. i'm a new school 'coagulation-due-to-simple-ions' type person.

[KeeperOfTheGood]

HAHAHA

I remember watching a special on water safety on 20/20. They bought bottled water and left it in a cupboard for quite a while... then they had tests run on bacteria counts in the unopened bottles of bottled water. Rather suprising how all brands had harmful levels of bacteria after a while.....

[redace1960]

the update you've all been waiting for.
nothing collected on the bottom of the iodized salt jar.
it just stayed the same color but became more opaque.
DISGUSTING.
i personally don't care if i was growing the cure for hair loss
in there, i hove the safeway iodized and switched to kosher-brand
diamond crystal kosher salt. interesting fact-right off the
line i notice it tastes better (and it's prettier, if that matters).
and yes, i have another highly scientific jar of brine sitting
on the side with the diamond crystal product in it. life IS a
cabaret, old chum.
i really am this picky about the food i put out here.
and i really did consult the van nostrands (and other sources).
thank all of you who answered! i went back to basics i haven't
visited in years.