Was looking into getting this. Am I the only one that is reading these directions and not getting it? What is confusing me, is the yellow color. Is the solution turning yellow to indicate strength? After reading (multiple times) I keep thinking the bromothymol blue turns yellow with the distilled water. Any help is appreciated. Hopefully I'm just reading them the wrong way.
Hi fellow diy juicers. Former chem drop out and ex toxicology lab tech chiming in here.
The test kit that nude nicotine offers is whats called a titration experiment. Basically, you add a titrant (the acid) to the solution (the juice) which also contains a color indicator (the bromothymol blue).
The bromothymol blue is a chemical that changes color from blue/green to, in this case, yellow once the solution it is present in has been neutralized. As you add your acid in a known amount of nic juice (1, 2, or 3 ml) the solution will "flash" or change color briefly then change back until the solution is at a neutral pH. Once the solution is is neutralized, based on the ml of the sample and the amount of acid used (and the concentration of the acid used) the amount of a chemical can be determined.
I just read through the nude nicotine's test kit instructions, they were nice enough to give you a number to multiply out based on how much acid you used. This makes your life easy, as you wont have to calculate the moles of nicotine and acid and all other kinds of awful maths that wizards use.
The important thing to remember about a titration is to slowly add your acid and keep swirling your solution. One drop can change your end calculated concentration significantly, so as soon as the color change holds, no matter how light it is, that is the point of neutralization.
Hope this helps and confuses! :D SNARF SNARF
solution will slowly turn yellow as you add the acid to the nicotine solution with the bromothymol blue in there. The bromothymol blue will change color as you add more acid, and will vary how much you have to add to get that yellow color change depending on the nic strength!
Are you slowly adding the acid to the mixture of blue and your juice?
I haven't done anything. I was reading the directions while contemplating ordering this kit. I want to make sure I know how to use it when I get it.
My bad, forgot your first sentence by the time I got to the end. I'm assuming it's the same kinda test kit that I have... You mix your juice, a few drops of blue and some distilled water in a cup. Then measure out a syringe of (sulfuric?)acid and slowly add it until the mixture turns from blue to yellow. Then take the number of ml's of acid you added and multiply it by a number they give you and the sum will tell you what your nicotine strength is.
The yellow color is just telling you when to stop and look at how much acid you had to add to make it yellow.