# Rewrite the science books: Oil and water DO mix, and STAY mixed. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 19, 2003, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-the-science-books-oil-and-water-do-mix-and-stay-mixed/156193 "2003-02-19T19:52:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-the-science-books-oil-and-water-do-mix-and-stay-mixed/156193/1 "2003-02-19T19:52:51Z")
once you remove any gasses dissolved in the water. [http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993408](http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993408) > [@](#): > > If you first remove any gas that is dissolved in the water, it will mix spontaneously and even stay that way indefinitely, according to chemist Ric Pashley of the Australian National University in Canberra. > > “Many scientists are going to find this very hard to believe,” says colloid scientist Len Fisher of the University of Bristol in England, “but Pashley has provided very strong proof that oil and water will mix.” Weird. ---
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-the-science-books-oil-and-water-do-mix-and-stay-mixed/156193/2 "2003-02-19T20:03:25Z")
Wow, after something like this, it makes you wonder. Maybe the Earth is hollow after all. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-the-science-books-oil-and-water-do-mix-and-stay-mixed/156193/3 "2003-02-19T20:19:11Z")
I remember reading that you could mix oil and water with ultrasonic agitation. That was about forty years ago. Is this related somehow? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-the-science-books-oil-and-water-do-mix-and-stay-mixed/156193/4 "2003-02-19T20:40:14Z")
I don’t think so **CalMeacham**. It seems no agitation of any kind is required, they actually spontaneously mix when put together. That said, the article does say they haven’t reproduced the experiment yet. I hope they means they haven’t tried yet, and not that they’ve tried and failed. I hate when my thread titles become lies… ---
**Author:** ![CRorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CRorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CRorex)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-the-science-books-oil-and-water-do-mix-and-stay-mixed/156193/5 "2003-02-19T21:08:28Z")
Err you mix oil and water all the time in immunology. It’s called… Freunds Complete Adjuent (or something like that – hot DAMN how is that for pulling terms from a different field out of your ass w/o google after 4 years of not thinking about it). Basically you use it to generate antibodies in … vivo … in something like a mouse. You take the peptide you want antibodies against, mix it with some oil solution and water. Generally the easiest way to do it is to take two disposable syringes and screw em together then inject the mixture from syringe to syringe. After about 30 hand cramping min later you have the mixture you need to inject into the mouse’s abdominal cavity. Just make sure you don’t puncture the intestine, if you do you get a MUCH stronger immune responce than you intended (aka mouse dies) ---
**Author:** ![CRorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CRorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CRorex)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-the-science-books-oil-and-water-do-mix-and-stay-mixed/156193/6 "2003-02-19T21:27:24Z")
Err you mix oil and water all the time in immunology. It’s called… Freunds Complete Adjuent (or something like that – hot DAMN how is that for pulling terms from a different field out of your ass w/o google after 4 years of not thinking about it). Basically you use it to generate antibodies in … vivo … in something like a mouse. You take the peptide you want antibodies against, mix it with some oil solution and water. Generally the easiest way to do it is to take two disposable syringes and screw em together then inject the mixture from syringe to syringe. After about 30 hand cramping min later you have the mixture you need to inject into the mouse’s abdominal cavity. Just make sure you don’t puncture the intestine, if you do you get a MUCH stronger immune responce than you intended (aka mouse dies) ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-the-science-books-oil-and-water-do-mix-and-stay-mixed/156193/7 "2003-02-19T23:03:12Z")
**CRorex** , nobody’s saying you couldn’t do it before with agitation, which is what you’re doing with the syringes. With the new method they mix spontaneously and stay mixed. With the syringe method, they’d still separate after a while, wouldn’t they? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2003, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-the-science-books-oil-and-water-do-mix-and-stay-mixed/156193/8 "2003-02-20T01:53:23Z")
Isn’t the adjunt (or however that’s spelled) an emulsifier? We’ve known for years that you can use emulsifiers to mix them. Heck, that’s the definition of an emulsifier. ---
**Author:** ![lamafish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@lamafish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lamafish)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2003, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-the-science-books-oil-and-water-do-mix-and-stay-mixed/156193/9 "2003-02-20T07:35:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Amp \* > \*\*Wow, after something like this, it makes you wonder. Maybe the Earth is hollow after all. 😃 \*\* Wow, could even be flat too then, huh.:dubious: ---
**Author:** ![aenea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@aenea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aenea)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2003, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-the-science-books-oil-and-water-do-mix-and-stay-mixed/156193/10 "2003-02-20T21:12:33Z")
Oil and water mix into a mayo of sorts when the head gasket blows. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2003, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-the-science-books-oil-and-water-do-mix-and-stay-mixed/156193/11 "2003-02-20T22:53:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Amp \* > Wow, after something like this, it makes you wonder. Maybe the Earth is hollow after all. 😃 The world is hollow, and I have touched the sky[.](http://www.startrek.com/library/episodes_tos_detail.asp?ID=68790)