Hi there Donna, Mike and List, I've spoken to a chemistry professor about the device you use to test PPM. He was very skeptical. Apparently, particle size, ion size, impurities in the water etc. will influence the PPM reading if you use a device such as yours. Here at the university there are several measuring instruments that operate on a principle that the lab people call "ICP". It stands for "Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy". It uses heated Argon plasma (8000 - 10000 degrees C.) to vaporize your sample and then checks for the elements using spectroscopy. Bottom line is that this is the only method I have found that accurately measures PPM. The bonus for me is that the lab people have done this process free of charge for me! They just stick my sample at the back of another client's run! If I have to pay for it, it will cost sixty Rand - about twelve Dollars.
To check for particle size, the transmission electron microscope is still the best bet, but a device called a "ZetaSizer" is not bad either. I have used this a few times with good results. Problem is that the concentration and size of the silver particles in good CS is at the bottom limit of this machine's capability. But if calibrated ok, it gives very good data and helpful printouts. I'm still busy with my "research" but here are some of my preliminary findings: HVAC 12000 volt - I copied Bruce Marx's electrode setup (Thanks Warren!) to an almost perfect match. The difference in my setup is that I use 12000 volt ac / 50 Hz and Bruce uses 10000 volt ac / 60 Hz. In a three hour run in one liter of water I got 7.24 PPM with an average particle size of 0.114 micron. Not good at all... If his machine produces what he claims, he's got a hell of a setup and I would really be tempted to buy one! Why don't you wonderful people in the USA buy some of his bottled CS and have it tested. ICP and the transmission electron microscope don't lie... 30VDC - Using three nine volt batteries and one liter of heated, super quality distilled water I easily get 22 PPM (drawing 12 mA). But my particle size is 0.0259 micron - not in ideal spec. It appears light yellow, but the size is still too big... I'm busy working on this right now to see if I can make yellow CS with particle size between 0.001 and 0.015 micron. Has anyone made yellow CS with this particle size? Have a good weekend! Christian At 05:53 PM 4/9/98 +0000, you wrote: >I finally have the results from the kimball labs. Below are the results. >Device used is 3 nine volts batters, distilled water with ppm reading of >1ppm,water heated to 180 degrees then transfered to a hotplate. Total run >time was 2 1/2 hours with 3 cups of Distilled water. >TDS 1 meter kimball >March 31 1998 >23ppm 32.9ppm (tested on 4/2 >It looks like a difference of +10ppm >I will use this for future reference when making my CS. >I did notice though that after I measure out a dosage of CS and then test, >it reads at a lower ppm. Anyone know why? Sometimes it also reads lower a >few days later. >Donna Earnest > > >-- >The silver-list is a moderated forum for discussion of colloidal silver. > >To join or quit silver-list or silver-digest send an e-mail message to: >[email protected] -or- [email protected] >with the word subscribe or unsubscribe in the subject: line. > >To post, address your message to: [email protected] > >List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]> > > > --------- Christian von Wechmar Stellenbosch, South Africa --------- -- The silver-list is a moderated forum for discussion of colloidal silver. To join or quit silver-list or silver-digest send an e-mail message to: [email protected] -or- [email protected] with the word subscribe or unsubscribe in the subject: line. To post, address your message to: [email protected] List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]>
