2 upvotes, 2 direct replies (showing 2)
View submission: Ask Anything Wednesday - Biology, Chemistry, Neuroscience, Medicine, Psychology
Chemistry: Can you split a powdered medicine capsule in half by dilituting it in 1 cup of water and then splitting the solution into two half cups? Would the two half cups of water contain approximately the same amount of powder?
Comment by aTacoParty at 16/03/2023 at 01:13 UTC
3 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Yes and no. Some medications can be fully dissolved in water which would allow them to be split in half by splitting the solution. Some medications may not be water soluble or may be poorly soluble which would prevent them from fully dissolving making it very difficult to accurately separate it equally. Finally, some medications need to be in pill form to be effective (long acting, enteric coated, delayed release, etc) so crushing it up may reduce its efficacy or even be dangerous.
Call up your local pharmacy if you have questions regarding dissolving your pills.
Comment by Mad_Dizzle at 16/03/2023 at 03:45 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Depends on its solubility limit in water. Basically, there's a limit to how much of a soluble material can dissolve in a solvent. If the powder is soluble in water at all, which it usually is, you may have to dissolve it in a larger glass to get it to fully dissolve. But once it has fully dissolved, you can be reasonably sure that it's distributed enough for you to accurately split it this way.