[Histonet] Storage of 10M NaOH

[Philip Oshel]

Eva,

Glass -- silica -- is soluble in basic solutions. Not obviously, but 
10M NaOH will attack the glass, and if ground-glass stoppers are 
used, the NaOH will "weld" the stopper to the bottle.
As an interesting aside, seawater has a high enough pH, around 8, 
that it will dissolve low levels of silica from glass bottles, enough 
to interfer with studies of silica in seawater. Such as when [silica] 
test formation of critters like diatoms and radiolarians is the 
object of interest.

Phil

>Hi,
>Maybe not a strictly histochemistry question but maybe someone could 
>provide me with an answer.
>I was just told that I shouldn't store the 10M NaOH that I use for 
>adjusting the pH in a glass bottle. I was told that it needed to be 
>made fresh and only kept in a plastic bottle. Why is this? How long 
>can I keep a stock solution?
>If anyone has any ideas please let me know.
>Eva

-- 
Philip Oshel
Supervisor, BBPIC microscopy facility
Department of Animal Sciences
University of Wisconsin
1675 Observatory Drive
Madison,  WI  53706 - 1284
voice: (608) 263-4162
fax: (608) 262-5157 (dept. fax)