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smoking_guru

What do they mean?

I know that non-polar solvents disolve THC, and polar solvents disolve plant matter and such, but is there a more in depth explanation?

 

Weet

If I remember polar and non polar are the charges of the particles. Like Water is polar and when two polar substances i guess react they come together or dissolve. Since THC is non polar it doesnt dissolve in water, but will in alcohol. Man I have a feeling I messed up somewhere but im not sure.

fyse0

polar means how many valence electrons it has in it's outer shell i think. having a full one and missing a full one.. it's to do with the amount of electrons the particles have.. chemistry was two years ago

Toking Jedi

aight here i go...

polar and non polar have to do with the charge distribution of the molecule
water is polar
lipids (fats and the like) are non polar
so lipids are hydrophobic--they are not water soluble
THC would have to be non polar to be lipid soluble because anything polar would not be able to be dissolved in a lipid. it also explains why it is not water soluble...

i'm taking bio this year... so i was just going over my notes from the beginning of the year (organic chemistry) for my end of term exam

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redeyed

i dont know the differance really and Jedi just confused me

but what i got was a chart of what each elements like charge like (not sure the name)
and when you make chemicles you subtract each others eletric number (or something) and depending on what you get is polar or non polar
non polar is like 0-2
and
polar is like 2-4 i think

but that "polar number" im thinking of of each element is determined by how huge the element is and how many electrons (in other words their placement on the periodic table of elements)

 

Insaneteacher

im taking biology now (freshman year in highschool) and we happen to be learning about this very thing. i honestly have no idea what either of them mean.

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Richi

From a wise person....

Polarity depends on if the molecules consist of oxygen (polar), when non-polar molecules include hydrogen and carbon. The symmetry of the molecule also comes into play.

For example, hexane contains no oxygen, and its molecular build up is pretty symmetrical, making it non-polar.

Ethanol contains oxygen, but the rest of its molcules are not symmetrical, making it polar, compared to hexane, but concidered non-polar in comparison to water.

Water contians oxygen, and the rest of its molecules are symmetrical, making it extremly polar.


Now, thc is not completly non-polar, on a scale of 1 to 10 it would be about a 7. Water would be a 0, ethanol a 5(ish) and hexane a 9. For these reasons, hexane would extract most non-polar substances, and leave behing organic matter, giving you the pursest form of thc tincture. Ethanol would dissolve mostly thc, but you would also get some organic matter (less pure). And finally, water would extract almost only organic matter, but you might get some traces of thc too.