I want to get some equipment to do my own experiments. I'd like to get a stand with a very heavy base. Any recommendations? I believe I will do some titrations using NaOH. I may get a pH meter. Any suggestions welcome.

Question

Finals are this week. Thanks for all the help. It made a big difference.

Sheryl

Is this for a home lab or for an experiment at school? And what do you want to prove/disprove/research with the acid/base titration?

I plan on titrating sea water and other waters from different sources at home. I'd like to observe the effects of pH on water. There is some HCl in the garage so I might do a reverse reaction on it as well.

Sheryl

I have found through the years that most suppliers will not sell to individuals although I dealt with only a small number of large suppliers. The Internet may give you a number of smaller suppliers that will sell to you. Go to Google and type in science supplies or something along those lines. I suggest, however, a differect path. Why not ask the department head of your chemistry department if you could use some equipment through the summer. Most state supported schools have rules about such equipment and supplies not leaving the campus; in that case, ask about the use of a room on campus where you could conduct your experiments. Not only will that save you the wear and tear on your pocket book but you will have the resources of faculty who might be willing to offer advice now and then. (And no matter how much you plan, you will find that you need this or that additional equipment/supplies after you made the initial purchase.)The U. S. Geological Survey has a set of procedures for testing water, including highly saline water, and you might want to look into getting a copy of that book. It's a paperback of about 100 pages or so. The library might have a copy or the USGS office in your city/county/state might have a copy. I obtained a copy from a friend who worked for USGS. We were cooperating on a project and he wanted to be sure both of us were using the same procedures. Good luck. By the way, there are a number of mesurements, and pH is one of them, that must be made on some types of water at the time of sampling. Some water sources have dissolved gases which affect the pH and these dissolved gases may escape during standing (even an hour makes a difference).

Thanks. I'll see what I can do.

Sheryl