Can i use tap water instead of distilled water solution (solution of a toxic chemical) in a pot experiment of a plant in order to observe the variation of a particular chemical on that plant or soil? Is it ok if i mention the EC and TDS of that tap water and taking these variables of tap water as constant value?
I think you cannot use it, because it is not depeded only on the EC and TDC.
specially if you work with microbes and possible contaminants from the water. the distillation cleans the water of metals as well as viruses and organic compounds that may affect the safety of water, it also removes natural minerals such as iron, lead, nitrate and calcium., which makes the water tasteless. While distilled water seems a safer choice compared to tap water, the rigid distillation process removes even the necessary nutrients present in drinking water, such as iron and sodium.
KIND REGARDS
Whilst Mohamed is correct,in that it is usually better to use distilled water I would add the following.:
If it is not possible to use distilled water because your production rate is too slow it is important to ensure that you have control plants watered with tap water only without your additions of "toxins" .If using tapwater allows you to be able to do more replicates this may be preferable than limiting your number of replicates.
Distilled water itself is different from rain water. The ideal is often to use harvested rainwater on both treatments and controls.
Watering with tapwater is a common practice for horticultural crops.
Thus your decision is not straightforward and will always be a compromise and should be based on the specifics of the experiment.
It is good to use distilled water because tap water contains some salts that can interfere with your experiment.it will act duebto it's composition some elements that you have not measure the content before starting you experiment. So go for distilled water as preconized by former participants
Previous views are very correct, and I totally agree with it.
Dear Nadia Saleh,
I suggest you to use only distilled water not tap water, because distilled water (1st step) may even contain Na+, K+, Cl- ions and absence of other impurities in it. So you may add the toxic chemicals of known weight (mg-equv.)/l then it will be easier for you to monitor the kinetic (changes) of selected parameter in room temperature and pressure. You have to try to control the whole system from unnecessary internal and external factors which may create the problem.
Regards,
Er., Dr. Chet
Thank you everyone. Your answers will be really helpful for my research project.
No, for two reasons:-
1- the effect of TDS.
2- the effect of pH. And this may become critical for dissolution of heavy or toxic metals
well if you are going to use tap water it would be rich in chlorine and heavy metals. and it may hamper your result. While in case of distilled water this error wont affect. so pls dont use tap water
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