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I am not really a chemist guy so please bear with me. Glycerol monolaurate has an upper limit of solubility in water of 20 μg/mL, which is enough for my experiment. Does this mean that no matter how much glycerol monolaurate I add to water the concentration will always stay at 20 μg/mL? Glycerol monolaurate is in powder form so does this mean that the powder would flow on top of water and the concentration of 20 μg/mL glycerol monolaurate would be in the water below?

Thanks.

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Q1) If 20 micrograms / ml is the upper solubility limit and you added less than 20 micrograms the solution could be less concentrated but a concentration higher than 20 micrograms / ml H2O can't be achieved.

Q2) No more than 20 micrograms of glycerol monolaurate will dissolve in 1 ml of water so if more than 20 micrograms was added the remaining undissolved powder would stay separated in some way (eg. precipitate) which could be filtered (as @MaxW has stated), or a colloidal suspension could also form. If more than 20 micrograms / ml were to be used the supernatant (GML/H2O layer) could be estimated to be 20 micrograms/ml) after filtration.

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    $\begingroup$ It seems that the density is just below 1.00 for glycerol monolaurate , so the undissolved portion will float. If it had a very fine particle size you might be able to get some sort of colloidal suspension. // There real notion here is two phases if you add more than 20 micrograms per mL. A liquid phase that contains water and the dissolved glycerol monolaurate, and a solid phase that is the undissolved solid glycerol monolaurate. $\endgroup$
    – MaxW
    Apr 11, 2016 at 22:01
  • $\begingroup$ @MaxW yes I agree, I haven't made this solution before so I don't know if it separates cleanly or not. Ill edit the emulsion part (: $\endgroup$
    – Technetium
    Apr 11, 2016 at 22:08
  • $\begingroup$ You can't really "emulsify" a solid. An emulsion is for two liquids. So the excess solid either floats, sinks, or forms a colloidal suspension - or possibly some combination due to particle size variations, wettability, and surface tension. $\endgroup$
    – MaxW
    Apr 11, 2016 at 22:17
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    $\begingroup$ @MaxW yes the colloidal suspension was what I meant .. $\endgroup$
    – Technetium
    Apr 12, 2016 at 2:57
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks MaxW and Joel. The below poster stated that the concentration will increase. I assume this is wrong? $\endgroup$
    – Nakute Marato
    Apr 12, 2016 at 12:18

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