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Q:
Why does sugar dissolve faster in distilled water than in tap water?
- Anonymous
Ball Elem, San Antonio
A:
We've kicked this around a little and couldn't figure out an answer. We
had some guesses, but nothing we we were confident about. For example,
the tap water might have a different pH (acidity or alkalinity) from
the distilled water- but that would depend on what tap you got it from.
One thing we wanted to ask you- are you sure the effect really
exists? Have you tried it yourself, making sure that the two types of
water were at the same temperature? Is there somewhere we could read
about the evidence for it?
-Jeff, Tom J., and Mike W.
(published on 10/22/2007)
Follow-up on this answer.
