UV Steeping?

[silentoz]

just spoke yo my suplier via email they gave me this from there data / saftey sheets take note of no 4

Stability and reactivity
1 Sensitive to light and moisture
2Keep away from light and moisture
3Incompatible with oxidizing substances
4 Decomposition products may include nitrogen and carbon oxides
5Avoid open flames and high temperatures

 

[EthelKing]

As I have stated from an early stage - I AM NO EXPERT IN ANY OF THIS - I just noticed that what takes days to achieve on the shelf seemed to occur within an hour in a 35W UV box. I have a horrible feeling that this whole subject could be heading in a direction that I hadn't intended, with me being seen as stating something scientific - when nothing could be further from the truth.

Therefore, I'm going to draw a line under this, and not complete the second project as I feel whatever the outcome is, it could be misconstrued as fact, rather than what it really is, an observation with some "kitchen science measurements". I don't want anyone to follow me in doing something that isn't proven in the lab (I will carry on using the UV light to accelerate my juices, but that is my personal choice, and not something I would encourage anyone else to do).

 

[silentoz]

As I have stated from an early stage - I AM NO EXPERT IN ANY OF THIS - I just noticed that what takes days to achieve on the shelf seemed to occur within an hour in a 35W UV box. I have a horrible feeling that this whole subject could be heading in a direction that I hadn't intended, with me being seen as stating something scientific - when nothing could be further from the truth.

Therefore, I'm going to draw a line under this, and not complete the second project as I feel whatever the outcome is, it could be misconstrued as fact, rather than what it really is, an observation with some "kitchen science measurements". I don't want anyone to follow me in doing something that isn't proven in the lab (I will carry on using the UV light to accelerate my juices, but that is my personal choice, and not something I would encourage anyone else to do).

i gues if it works for you go for it just be very careful with how long you expose it to the uv :-)

 

[kolgeo]

Well yesterday i ordered my uv... cant wait to try!

 

[VaperCaper]

and by rights nic tests kits give u the nic content by the solution changing colour at a certain ph so if u can figure out wat coulour each ph the colour changes at then i rekon if u get a swimming pool ph meter u should be abel to tell the mg of ur nic by that tis just a theory of mine tho ......

that's not quite how it works.

Titration testing is a standard chemical analysis technique - also known as volumetric analysis. It's used to determine how much of a specific chemical is in a given liquid. For e-liquid that specific chemical is nicotine.

What you do is add indicator solution to the liquid being tested, the e-liquid starts off as being alkali. Then you add an acid to the test solution and you keep track of how much acid you add. The nicotine in the e-liquid solution neutralises the acid that you're adding. Gradually the pH of the test solution gets to about 7 (neutral). Once the nicotine is all gone then the next drop of acid makes the pH jump from 7 to about 4 which causes a colour change in the indicator. Then you add up how much acid you added to cause the colour change and it's the amount of acid solution you need to change the pH that you measure to determine the quantity of nicotine in the e-liquid, not the pH.

The original post where this was talked about on ECF is here (and has lots more detail cos the guy is an actual chemist)

Same chemist also posted this in a different thread on ECF. Basically saying that the act of vaping e-liquid 'deteriorates' the e-liquid somewhat and as vaping obviously works then despite the effect that vaping has on e-liquid it doesn't effect the nicotine that badly.

There's also a blog from a year back on the madvapes website where they tested some e-liquid sotred in varying conditions and collected data about it over a period of 4 months and you can see from their results that 36mg e-liquid stored in an open bottle on a windowsill at room temp, (so exposed to UV light, temperature changes, and oxygen) still tested at full strength 5 weeks later. 4 months later it had changed from 35mg/ml to 31mg/ml. So UV steeping is unlikely to significantly alter the nictotine available in the e-liquid significantly, provided you don't over do it. It will accelerate the reactions that the nictotine has in the e-liquid and 'steep' the flavours but that happens well before the nicotine starts to degrade significantly.

 

[EthelKing]

Thanks for the clarification VaperCaper - I always test my nic base when I receive it - and I find the test to be effective to a few mg/ml, so it reassuring to know a bit more about the chemistry. I also use a strong bromothymol blue indicator solution, so the colour changes are not particularly subtle - when it goes yellow - it is yellow, which is a bonus. The UK sourced stuff is usually bang on, but there can be some quite significant fluctuations on nic base sourced from father afield (most worrying, upward of 72mg/ml in some instances!)

Also, I've done a bit of further reading on nicotine decomposition, and it seems that the decomposition point is around the 90 degrees C mark, and weirdly enough the flashpoint is lower!

Thanks once again.

Lee

 

[kolgeo]

I bought it, used it 3 times already... awesome! in 1 hour my juices are ready to go! <3 Thank you! Worth a try ;P

 

[EthelKing]

Glad you're getting on with it OK. I am still using the method - like you, no longer than an hour, and it works like a charm! The sample experiment is ticking over nicely - I'll drop you a line when its done and dusted.

 

[ScottChensoda]

And????