couple of questions about funnels:

[CoyoteMRain]

just because i LOOOOVE math, not that i would ever consider actually doing this sort of thing... if you were going to work with 3 lbs of mhrb, how would you go about calculating how big of a separation funnel you would need to buy? i was able to figure out approximately how much liquid would go into that much and i think i figured on around 1500 ml, but not sure, and then not sure how much volume that weight would be... also, if you have a separation funnel, do you also need a vacuum buchner funnel, or is just the separation funnel ok?

 

[CoyoteMRain]

also, is a telfon stopper ok in the separation funnel, or does it have to be glass? finally, as far as ph meter goes, one that says is for testing pools and aquariums.. should that be ok??

 

[angryanus]

i usually have 100-150ish grams bark in 500ml sep funnel and it gets messy especially with the base only technique. maybe compare with that. teflon stopcocks are ok. i dont see any deforming from the naptha or lye on mine. my ph meter is red with a black probe, not sure what brand but any meter should be fine. if you like math you could save on a buying a ph meter and just calculate an approximate Molarity of a lye solution and figure out the grams. vaccuum funnel would come in handy if you have one

 

[Noman]

Working with that much, one could easily siphon off most of their solvent without touching the basified solution at the bottom and then just use a normal (500ml) size funnel to get the rest. Nothing needs to be filtered finer than a kitchen strainer, so a vacuum funnel in not needed. You need wide range pH papers, aquarium papers are for just a few points above and below neutral, but they really aren't necessary either. The STB teks go way beyond paper's or meter's ability to measure and with MHRB and an A/B, there is a pretty clear visual indicator.

 

[CoyoteMRain]

thanks guys

 

[CoyoteMRain]

is it that you should have either a vacuum buchner filter or a separation funnel, or should you have both? buchner is better though, right? is this the kind of ph meter to use? it goes up to 14... all i need is up to 13.5 right??> http://item.express.ebay.com/_Lab-S...SuppliesQQptdiZ813QQadiZ1452QQcmdZExpressItem

 

[CoyoteMRain]

actually a buddy of mine who hasn't done this before but has read a lot seems to adamantly think that it would be ok just to use a regular old funnel, nothing special, that it might just take longer. is there any particular reason that a special separatory funnel or vacuum funnel is better or necessary?

 

[Noman]

First - what tek are you using? Second - a funnel, a vacuum funnel, and a separatory funnel are three different devices used for entirely different purposes. They are not interchangeable. Tell your buddy to keep reading.

 

[CoyoteMRain]

http://www.geocities.com/aerondir5meo/guide_1.pdf this is the one i like... my buddy is reading a bunch of them i wouldn't mind investing in the buchner since it is useful for other things but my buddy knows more about this than i so i don't want to go against what he thinks either

 

[CoyoteMRain]

he full on thinks he can get away with JUST having a regular funnel... that doesn't sound right to me...

 

[Noman]

I've never worked with acacia, but I know that you'll definitely need a sep funnel to separate the non polar solvent but you probably wont need the buchner. Tho like you say, its nice to have.

 

[CoyoteMRain]

using mhrb ... its ok w/ that tek

 

[Noman]

It'll work for sure, but its way more work than one needs to go to for MHRB. My friend in Antarctica would use the Marsofold tek if he wanted to do an A/B on MHRB.

 

[CoyoteMRain]

which one is that? nevermind i'll do a search on it

 

[CoyoteMRain]

oh yeah we are both definately familiar with that one i just like the one i posted because it is SO explicit and step by step! but simplicity is good