Dear phD School sifus,

I have a question in mind (for a long time already) haha.... I tried looking from books and the internet for answers but I'm din't really find much
I was wondering whether you guys could clarify, what's the differences between:

1. Pipe water
2. Rain water
3. Distilled water
4. Deionized water
5. Battery water

We are using some of these waters in our lab but it would be good to know if I can actually use different type of water for different processes i.e. PCR etc..

As for those in our daily lives... one thing which I'm very interested in is.... what type of water can we actually use for our car's battery? Some say battery water, some say distilled water... very confused

Hope you guys can help me out, thanks thanks, appreciate your help!

rain water more acidic than other types of water in the list

i remember last time in tuition, my teacher said tat rain water can be use for car battery, he said long time ago petrol station will collect rain water n customer can take for free

This post has been edited by soket: Sep 28 2010, 10:18 AM

battery water, is actually distilled water.

distilled water is pure water which contain no impurities
usually being used in lab
battery water , are alkaline solution which enchances the conduction of electricity, used in car bettery other i dont know so well

I thought distilled water is very poor, if not doesn't conduct electricity?
My dad asked me to refill the car battery with distill water... [doubtful]

Fundamentally, all contains H2O(obviosuly) it is the chemical and physical content difference that makes it differ from one and another

1) Pipe water is the water that is cleanse to make it potable... so, it is safe interm of chemical, biological and other properties, that makes it safe to drink or other domestic usage like bathing(direct contact with skin that does not cause irritants)

2) rain water is the evaporated water(theoretically to be distilled water when it accumulates above the clouds. but when rain falls, it absorbs some properties of the atmosphere(polluted air due to industrial fume waste) that makes it acidic as per some forumers said.

3) this is the totally pure water, with no minerals, biological contenct etc....

4) not that familiar with this though

5) this is known as heavy water

This post has been edited by Awakened_Angel: Sep 28 2010, 11:10 AM

Heavy water is the stuff they use in nuclear reactors. This is definitely not battery water used in car batteries.

battery water is alkaline if i`m not wrong...
it is not pure water...
if distilled water,,how can the ion can go from negative to positive plat...

My mistakes... sorry...

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Added on September 28, 2010, 12:00 pmif so, then my friend during schooling time wont be hospitalized by drinking battery water LAA

This post has been edited by Awakened_Angel: Sep 28 2010, 12:00 PM

Car batteries are basically lead acid batteries. If he was drinking the stuff that was in the battery, he would have been drinking sulfuric acid.

Adding alkaline to a car battery would probably kill the battery since it will neutralize the acid inside.

ya,,,it is acid actually,,,
forgot ady learned when form 5

...............

no one start from the standard by WHO ?

basically water quality is measured by :
1) qualitative : appearance, taste, smell
2) quantitative : all chemical composition of the water
3) microbiologic : all microorganisms

shouldn't be too hard to figure out the difference i think.

and battery water you use to fill up the battery is DISTILLED WATER.

like what Eventless mentioned, the batteries are lead acid. but without H20, dry acid itself cannot exhibit acidity and hence the use of distilled water which is pure of any contaminants.



sos from wiki.


and to Awakened_Angel, distilled water is NOT for drinking la. since it is so pure, it is very hypotonic. When drank, it will cause excess water entering into our body cells, causing them to burst. Google deplasmolysis or cytolysis.

I've been thinking for quite a long time and I still don't know what's the difference...
May need to wait for Highwind85 to explain the usage of water when it comes to molecular level

As I've mentioned earlier, I thought distilled water is not (or very poor) in conducting electricity? O___O
I think its more likely deionized water...

when you buy your battery.......what is the fluid in it? ever ponder on that?

Well... I never tried to take the water out from the battery and test it, my bad

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Added on September 28, 2010, 12:40 pmWell... I don't really trust Wiki but still here's a quote from there:
"Non-laboratory uses
Distilled or deionized water are commonly used to top up lead acid batteries used in cars and trucks. The presence of foreign ions commonly found in tap water will cause a drastic reduction in an automobile's battery lifespan.
Distilled or deionized water is preferable to tap water for use in automotive cooling systems.[6] The minerals and ions typically found in tap water can be corrosive to internal engine components, and can cause a more rapid depletion of the anti-corrosion additives found in most antifreeze formulations.[7][8] Distilled or deionized water is especially important in automotive hybrid system component cooling systems, mixed with hybrid system coolant, to prevent corrosion and/or electrolysis of hybrid components.[9]"

That settles one question....

I'm living proof... drank distilled water and deionized water everyday

This post has been edited by [PF] T.J.: Sep 28 2010, 12:40 PM

When famine breakout, and no potable water, evaporated and condensed distilled water is the only water that is safe to drink and easiest to obtain.

The problem that excessive distilled water cause it since there are no minerals within it, it tends to absorb minerals from body which leads to demineralization of body

I think the reason why distilled water can be used (even though it is not good in terms of conductivity) is because there's still sulfuric acid inside the automotive battery. Based on Wiki, the car battery consists of 35% sulfuric acid and 65% water.

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Added on September 28, 2010, 12:44 pm+1

This post has been edited by [PF] T.J.: Sep 28 2010, 12:44 PM

i hear my name here...
distilled water is water prepared by boiling and condensation...
deionized water is something like MiliQ water used in the lab..it is filtered and deionized using a ion binding resin..
So far in my work, distilled water and MiliQ water are interchangeble as both also pure water..(i just want clean water)
but i reckon deionized water, as indicated by its name, has lower conductivity due to lack of other ions...i dunno how significant is that difference though...

where does your distilled water comes from if may i ask?

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Added on September 28, 2010, 3:34 pmbut that isn't really really pure distilled water.

those distilled water u get in labs are distilled and condensed for at 3-4 times, hence it is 100% free of minerals and other contaminants.

when famine breakouts, i doubt people have the time and energy to conduct distillation a few times.

and it does not absorb minerals from the body la. it causes osmotic imbalance which results in cells bursting.

This post has been edited by zstan: Sep 28 2010, 03:34 PM