-
- Posts: 406
- Joined: Wed Jul 18, 2012 6:45 am
- Location: Germany
You can say "the solutions were acidified by addition of 10 µL formic acid", but what word do you use when adding 10 µL of sodium hydroxide solution?
Thanks,
Jörg
Off-topic conversations and chit-chat.
GOM wrote:
Just to take a step back from semantics.
You can acidify something but sometimes it needs to be taken to a particular pH - the same with adding base.
Would it not be far better just to simply say add an appropriate stated amount ( whatever that amount is) of acid/base to achieve a particular pH in keeping with a scientific method?
"You can't verbify a noun"
bunnahabhain wrote:
Dears.
You can say "the solutions were acidified by addition of 10 µL formic acid", but what word do you use when adding 10 µL of sodium hydroxide solution?
Thanks,
Jörg
GOM wrote:
You can also acidify to pH 9 from 11
I was simply trying to point out that it is a false argument. Nobody loves the richness of language more than me /may you prove it please/ but for a written scientific method /who says it was scientific method, not just a comment of a coworker during sample preparation ?/ we do need to keep to something like add or whatever verb you want to use
dblux_ wrote:GOM wrote:
You can also acidify to pH 9 from 11
I was simply trying to point out that it is a false argument. Nobody loves the richness of language more than me /may you prove it please/ but for a written scientific method /who says it was scientific method, not just a comment of a coworker during sample preparation ?/ we do need to keep to something like add or whatever verb you want to use
May an administrator move this to around a water cooler section ? It has nothing in common with HPLC.
Peter Apps wrote:
It is a good rule in scientific and technical writing that everything should be stated as concisely as possible. If you can omit something from a sentence without changing what the sentence conveys, then omit it. In the OP's example the sentence about acidification needs only to convey that 10 ul of formic acid was added to the solution. What its effects were (acidification) is not necessary to convey that meaning, and so it can be omitted. Similarly, the addition of 10 ul of sodium hydroxide can simply be written as "10 ul of sodium hydroxide solution was added" with the dual advantages of brevity and of not having to worry about which word to use for rendering a solution more alkaline.
/Yes Peter, definitely agree that it must be as precise as it can. BUT life is not a scientific paper. Imagine that you write a description of an experiment for students. IMO you have to use such words as acidify, neutralize or alkalify. Otherwise that student would add eg. 10 µL of acid solution mechanically and he wouldn't even think why and what for.
Another example. You are going to regain silver from a mixture. You can't say add 10 mL of xxx because nobody knows how much it should be. Instead you say acidify with HNO3 until litmus paper turns red (haven't seen it for ages, but universal papers are in use in analitical chemistry). Not everything is science or scientific paper. There are also recipes for people who are not well educated but execute such activities. There are also manuals for the beginners and descriptive chemistry is necessary.
Besides the sense of the question was: what is an antonym to acidify ?
The simple answer is alkalify isn't it?/
Separation Science offers free learning from the experts covering methods, applications, webinars, eSeminars, videos, tutorials for users of liquid chromatography, gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, sample preparation and related analytical techniques.
Subscribe to our eNewsletter with daily, weekly or monthly updates: Food & Beverage, Environmental, (Bio)Pharmaceutical, Bioclinical, Liquid Chromatography, Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry.