Gareth56 Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 I've noticed that when I dissolve a soluble tablet in plain tap water the tablets dissolves quite quickly, however when I dissolve it in sparkling water it takes far longer. Any ideas why? Could it be due to the extra dissolved CO2 in the water that hinders dissolution? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrP Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 It could be that the bubbles in the liquid settle on the tablet? Thus there is less surface area of the tablet actually in contact with water. That coupled with your suggestion that the water is diluted by the disolved gasses sounds reasonable. This is just a guess however and I do not actually know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Skeptic Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 There may also be an effect due to pH. Sparkling water is full of carbonic acid, so you should use a weak acid as a control rather than water if you don't want pH to have an effect, or a substance not affected by pH. The surface area explanation is also a good one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedarkshade Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 Well sparkling water contains a lot of things that normal water doesn't so I wouldn't really expect to dissolve in the same rate. And I think Mr Skeptic is right, carbonic acid (although a weak acid) does affect the pH rate and this probably might be what you're looking for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imp Posted April 8, 2008 Share Posted April 8, 2008 No one has considered: Are the temperatures of the two "waters" identical? imp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedarkshade Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 No one has considered: Are the temperatures of the two "waters" identical? imp Don't think so. There DIY experiments are usually done in room-conditions so I don't think there might have been a temperature change that could possibly affect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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