Petty Argument - Semantics...

[GoldLeader]

Is it "reverse" phase or "reversed" phase? Our tech writers are frustrating me...

Jeff

[randy]

I don't think I've ever seen a reference to reversed phase. I can understand why the tech writers might think of it as reversed phase, but I've always known it as reverse phase. Kind of like using the reverse gear in your car and not the reversed gear.

[JGK]

Is it "reverse" phase or "reversed" phase? Our tech writers are frustrating me...

Jeff

I alway thought it was "reverse phase" however the LC-GC glossary of terms uses "reversed phase" as do approximately half of my text books.

My advice: Pick one and be consistent

[Uwe Neue]

I should probably stay out of this, because English is not my native language. I just want to add a comment on the origin of "reversed phase".
Initially, the stationary phase was the polar silica, which was used with non-polar solvents. Then nonpolar stationary phases were created, which needed to be used with polar solvents such as water. Now the "normal" way of doing stuff was "reversed", and chromatography was divided into "normal-phase" chromatography and "reversed-phase" chromatography.

[tom jupille]

There is a fair amount of inconsistency in chromatography terminology. In addition to to "reverse / reversed", there is "eluant / eluent", "capacity factor / retention factor", " k' / k ", and so on.

I second JGK's suggestion: pick one and make it your standard!

[JGK]

In the case of "eluant / eluent", my copy of Chambers Dictionary lists both and gives the same definition for each.

[GoldLeader]

Thanks guys. I guess it's not worth any argument. I'll just let the techs use whatever happens to be in fashion that day.

On the other hand, perhaps I'll start making more decisions based on JGK's sig line

Jeff

[JGK]

Fair enough but don't forget to account for

Murphy's lesser known laws
1. Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

2. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

3. Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don't.

4. Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.

5. The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability you'll get it wrong.

6. If you lined up all the cars in the world end to end, someone would be stupid enough to try to pass them, on a hill, in the fog, and 9 times out of 10, they'll have Texas plates on their car....

7. The things that come to those who wait will be the scraggly junk left by those who got there first.

8. The shin bone is a device for finding furniture in a dark room.

9. A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.

10. When you go into court, you are putting yourself into the hands of people who weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty.

[Consumer Products Guy]

5. The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability you'll get it wrong.

This was truly demonstrated by me a few days before Christmas. I wanted to get the wife some fur-lined boots for around the house that were on sale at sporting goods store. I thought she wore 8 but she already had a shorter pair of same brand that were 9. I held each box (there was one of each) several times, knowing I would ABSOLUTELY get it wrong, no matter what I did. I finally figured that she would know her right size, and got the 9. It turned out that she had gotten the 9 previously because they were on sale at that time and they didn't have 8 then. So after Christmas she swapped out for the 8.

From now on I buy both; I was trying to gamble on just one trip, to be environmental....

[chromatographer1]

When confronted by a difficult problem, you can solve it more easily by reducing it to the question, "How would the Lone Ranger handle this?"

I like this proposition and propose the one and only answer:

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He would just ask Tonto for the answer. Works every time.



Rod

[JGK]

When confronted by a difficult problem, you can solve it more easily by reducing it to the question, "How would the Lone Ranger handle this?"

I like this proposition and propose the one and only answer:

He would just ask Tonto for the answer. Works every time.



Rod

Unfortunately, Tonto has retired and is living the good life on the reservation, thanks to the casino profits. The LR has to "go it alone" these days.

[lmh]

At risk of resurrecting an old thread:

The problem I have is not with reverse vs. reversed phase, but with the fact that reverse phase is now more normal than normal phase, so to avoid me making daft comments about using my "normal reverse phase column", perhaps we need to rename normal phase "unusual phase"? And as for Hilic, (basically reverse-reverse-phase, but not normal, even if it's becoming more common), at the very least it proves too reverses don't necessarily take us forwards.