Re: reallly cheap brown bottles

[Richard Knoppow <dickburk@ix.netcom.com>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Judy Seigel" <jseigel@panix.com>
To: "Alt List" <alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca>
Sent: Sunday, April 27, 2008 12:10 PM
Subject: Re: reallly cheap brown bottles


> Chris wrote:
>
> > http://www.specialtybottle.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=2
> Generally speaking, glass is (as I believe was already 
> noted) safer than plastic, because it can be cleaned 
> (chemically and physically) better than plastic --  
> especially important if you're changing contents.  There's 
> also the fact that plastic has all sorts of ingredients 
> (often as yet unremarked) which can re-enter the 
> ambisphere.... as the similar-to I think it was 
> estrogen... effect of a chemical found to leach out of 
> plastic drink bottles caused them to be recently taken off 
> the market.
>
> Glass, as I understand it, is essentially impervious and 
> inert (except I daresay under extreme provocation).  Aside 
> from the brown color filtering out light, I've read (not 
> proved it myself) that brown glass is especially inert.
>
> However, one adorable quality of brown glass that hasn't 
> been mentioned is that it's available (or used to be) from 
> science sources with its own glass dropper, which is, I 
> dare say *literally* a godsend.  Many, even most, of our 
> measurements are in small quantities, nearly impossible to 
> measure accurately by pouring, and totally impossible to 
> pour without dripping.
>
> The bottles also last, in effect, forever. But if you 
> yourself live for a few more years, the rubber squeeze 
> tops of their droppers will disintegrate (faster even than 
> you do)... I haven't found a place to replace them. These 
> originally came from Ginsberg Scientific, but it was 
> always difficult for a lay person to buy from them... Has 
> anyone done business with them lately? (I bought in bulk 
> for school, so price wasn't an item anyway -- the bottles 
> last forever, another reason price may not be an item 
> except for a class.)
>
> I'd also guess -- and this is purely a guess, that bottles 
> made for lab purposes would be a better value at whatever 
> price than simply "cheap brown bottles" -- which, unless 
> otherwise specified (I haven't checked) could be made as 
> throwaways for, say, Belgian Beer (as my neighbor got a 
> $25 ticket for drinking on our front stoop the other 
> day... and in NYC
> even a paper bag doesn't cover the "crime"... So if you 
> want to drink beer on the stoop, put it in a goblet, or 
> buy a non-alcoholic beer, pour it out, & pour your 
> beverage in).
>
> J.
   There are substances for which plastic may be better 
than glass. For example glass will slowly dissolve in some 
strongly alkaline solutions like sodium hydroxide and will 
dissolve in hydrofluoric acid, which is used for etching 
glass. There are also many kinds of glass some of which may 
be more inert than others.
   Brown is a sort of traditional color for chemical 
containers supposedly because it absorbs ultra-violet light, 
but if you keep light sensitive solutions in the dark or in 
subdued light clear bottles will do as well.
   Glass is probably more impervious to gasses than plastic 
but this varies with the type of plastic and may not be a 
significant difference for many solutions.

---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@ix.netcom.com