Chromatography Forum

Hello. An in-house qualified standard has a lot of static. Material jumps off the spatula and sticks to drying dish walls.

Can anyone provide tips on how to handle this problem?

I have found that not wearing nitrile gloves helps. Using a static gun does not make a noticeable difference.

This standard is transferred from the storage bottle (Polypropylene) to a drying dish (glass) and dried at 105C in an oven. Then weighed into a plastic weigh boat. Static is a problem throughout these steps.

Thanks!

Stored in a glass bottle may help.

One thing we did in the past was to tape a dryer sheet (Downy, Bounce, Snuggle, ect) to the back wall of the balance enclosure to reduce static. It worked pretty well. Another is to make a dilute solution of fabric softener in a spray bottle and spray down the area, but that can lead to cross contamination depending on the target of interest.

James_Ball wrote:
Stored in a glass bottle may help.

One thing we did in the past was to tape a dryer sheet (Downy, Bounce, Snuggle, ect) to the back wall of the balance enclosure to reduce static. It worked pretty well. Another is to make a dilute solution of fabric softener in a spray bottle and spray down the area, but that can lead to cross contamination depending on the target of interest.

I second the recommendation of storing in a glass bottle. I work with a number of granular products that our formulation lab used to provide me in a plastic polymer bottle - tons of static.

I requested glass jars instead and this significantly reduced the amount of static.

I might also suggest weighing into an aluminum weigh boat instead of a plastic weigh boat.

As far as possible use metal containers and utensils.

Peter

you've reminded me that I want to have a Word with Sigma chemicals about supplying 25mg of highly static white powder in a white conical plastic insert in a white bottle. Inside the container the material is completely invisible; the first glimpse the customer gets is as it whizzes off the spatula and sticks itself to the left-over plastic foamy stuff on the rim of the container, the foamy stuff they use to seal the tops of pots.

Nothing like paying a total fortune for a miniscule amount of a beautifully clean standard, which has no doubt taken someone weeks to make, only to have the whole process messed up by the packaging.

Whatever happened to use of those Polonium emitter plates you could put in a balance cavity? I have a couple of them to dispose of that were in my balance untill I checked the expiration date. They expired back in ~2004.

I like the dryer sheet idea. We had one taped to the thermal tape output slot on an old model ICP-AES. Because static would build up and crash the CPU running the ICP. That was back in the 1980's

Hello. Don't use gloves.

dap wrote:
Hello. Don't use gloves.

I fear that might not always be the best idea, especially when working with a concentrated or pure material that may or may not have significant harmful effects (carcinogenic, teratogenic, etc...)

Po-210 emitters work great. The company NRD makes them as "Staticmaster", I use them in my lab for our very sensitive balances.

Thanks for that info. I may replace mine now that I know where to get them.