• Question: What type of chemicals do you use

    Asked by lewis1646 to Duncan, Julie, Nik, Rachel on 21 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: Julie Bland

      Julie Bland answered on 21 Mar 2013:

      Mainly sulfuric acid! Which is quit dangerous because it dissolved metal, living tissue (skin, bones…). But in my experiment it help me dissolve the cheese so I can look at the fat and protein concentration. I also use sodium hydroxide and silver nitrate which I add (separately) to grinded cheese little by little with an colour indicator give me the concentration of acid and salt in cheese respectively.

    • Photo: Duncan Gaskin

      Duncan Gaskin answered on 21 Mar 2013:

      I use lots of different chemicals, but usually in very small amounts since I do a lot of my DNA work in very small volumes (millionths of a litre). I use some very nasty chemicals to break open bacterial cells quickly before they can react to the damage (examples would be phenol or guanidine thiocyanate). As well as acids and alkalis to alter the pH of buffers that I use.

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