Really dumb science question (about solutions)

[Variable]

Okay, I should know this from eighth grade, but it's been a while since eighth grade...

Can something be disolved in a fluid, and make it so it's no longer transparent? Or is that then just suspended solids there? You know what I'm saying??

[ssalmanj]

Yes. Dissolved substances can change the properties of a solvent (the solution said substances are being dissolved in). Temperature, fluidity/viscosity, transparency, you name it, all of these properties can change.

[Variable]

Is milk essentially water with a bunch of stuff dissolved in it?

[caffienetime]

Variable said

Is milk essentially water with a bunch of stuff dissolved in it?

no it isnt. at least i dont think so. milk is milk. if you go with that logic, you can say gasoline is water with things added to it.

different substances have different states. the room temperature state of milk is liquid, therefore its a liquid.

[Variable]

caffienetime said

no it isnt. at least i dont think so. milk is milk. if you go with that logic, you can say gasoline is water with things added to it.

different substances have different states. the room temperature state of milk is liquid, therefore its a liquid.

Okay, I guess what I'm going for is: is milk a solution? Or is it a mixture of stuff in suspension. Like, after a period of time, will it all settle out?

[ChotooMotoo]

Variable said

Okay, I guess what I'm going for is: is milk a solution? Or is it a mixture of stuff in suspension. Like, after a period of time, will it all settle out?

Milk doesn't really fit the definition of a homogenous solution, it's more like a colloid or suspension than a solution. Milk straight from the cow is a mixture of water in which fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals are suspended. If you took milk straight from the cow and just let it sit there for a while, it will settle out. If you read old accounts of cheese or butter making, they would strain the fresh milk through a very fine sive or cloth to collect the fat (cream) and then beat the cream until it congealed into butter. When you make cheese you add either acids or enzymes to separate the milk protein from the water, you take the protein (cheese curds) and them do other stuff to make it into cheese.

If it were really a true homogenous solution, you wouldn't be able to separate it by such crude mechanical means. You would have to heat it, or subject to to a chemical process to make the components separate if it were a true homogenous solution.

What we think of as homoginized milk is just normal milk that has been processed to make the fat particles uniformly distributed. If you just let it sit out though, it does start to settle. Of course by the time it starts to settle, it's also starting to go bad

[Variable]

So can you have solutions that are really quite dark looking? Like coffee?

[ChotooMotoo]

Variable said

So can you have solutions that are really quite dark looking? Like coffee?

yes. A homogonous solution should be clear (you can see through it) generally speaking if it's not clear it's a colloid/suspension. There is no rule that the solution need be both clear and colorless.

The best part of working in an inorganic synthesis group (setting aside the hazards to your health and sanity) are the beautiful solutions your compounds come in. I've synthesized compounds that were red, green, purple, brown, pink etc. in solution. It's really fun to take one of those solutions and separate it through a chromatography column. You get this kind of strata looking thing in the silica that looks like the walls of the grand canyon.

[Timbit]

ell oh ell
vari

what if it's aerated milk though?

[meraj]

as salaamu alaikum,

dude, just throw the milk out and buy a fresh carton already.

meraj

[Variable]

aaaahahahahah