Is DNA a solid or a liquid?
- Thread starter jaboo
- Start date
It's a protein.
Besides that...solid or liquid anything is dependent on temperature.
At room temperature I *think* pure deoxyribonucleic acid would be a powder.
Mostly though, if you have DNA, say of some plasmid to be added to a bacteria to alter its' genome...it's going to be DNA in solution-floating in sterile water-and you won't see it, it'll be cloudy fluid.
Besides that...solid or liquid anything is dependent on temperature.
At room temperature I *think* pure deoxyribonucleic acid would be a powder.
Mostly though, if you have DNA, say of some plasmid to be added to a bacteria to alter its' genome...it's going to be DNA in solution-floating in sterile water-and you won't see it, it'll be cloudy fluid.
It’s an organic polymer molecule that, in its natural state, exists in solution (ie. in a cell). I suppose an exception might be a DNA virus that can exist in a desiccated state outside of its host cell. In that instance the encapsulated DNA might be considered to be solid.
If you extract DNA from cells/tissue then you can have it in whatever form you like – in solution or lyophilized (ie. desiccated and dried to a solid).
No!! It’s a nucleic acid.
Depends. At RT a nucleic acid solution open to the environment would eventually evaporate leaving a solid residue. If the solution is in a sealed tube then it generally stays in solution at RT.
Hmmm not in my experience. Nucleic acid solutions are clear, although they can be viscous if high MW and high concentration.
Yep, polypropylene eppendorf tubes exist in various levels of opaqueness. (Is ‘opaqueness’ a word?)
Indeed. You can store it at that point as a solid in EtOH, or spin it down, take off the EtOH and redissolve in your buffer of choice. That’s why I said:
Ophiolite
Valued Senior Member
Opacity would be better: "exist with various levels of opacity".
It is a solute .When it is packaged it would be a dispersed solidcovered by hystone as the hystone is removed and as enzyme bring more hydration water in the vicinity DNA becomes more soluble .
It is a solid. You can dry it out. The same applies for RNA.
If I am not mistaken DNA can form crystals when it dehydrates. This would imply a solid. If it dried more randomly than a crystal (amorphus), it would be considered a dense fluid. Glass is a dense fluid due to being amorphous. It will actually flow but will take centuries to see.
you can solidify anything at certain temperature. Is to say CO2 is it solid or a gas ? is water solid liquid or gas . all depend on the temperature
you are asking .
Let say proteine you can have it insoluble ( or lest soluble at its isoelectric point you change the pH and you will make it in a liquid transparent .
It seems that flowing glass is a myth. (Wikipedia, John Baez). Glass is solid.
Pitch, on the other hand, does flow, as demonstrated by this experiment at my university.
Eagle9
Registered Senior Member
Are not you sure? Actually is DNA collected in ordinary amount simply to see and touch it?
Why would someone expect a molecule if such a high molecular weight to be liquid ? It will be liquid if a large number of water molecules are attached
Calf thymus DNA single crystal
Grown from aqueous saline solution buffered with citrate at pH 7.3, this calf thymus DNA single crystal demonstrates birefringence and the beginning of a focal conic texture. The DNA concentration for this specimen is unknown but is presumed to be in the neighborhood of 400 milligrams per millimeter, and the magnification is approximately 200x. The digital image presented above was originally recorded on Fujichrome 64T transparency film using a Nikon Optiphot-Pol microscope with crossed polarized illumination. Exposures were recorded about 2.5 f-steps under the recommended value given by an in-camera photomultiplier and were push-processed approximately 1.5 f-steps in the first E-6 developer.
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/micro/gallery/dna/dna1.html
Grown from aqueous saline solution buffered with citrate at pH 7.3, this calf thymus DNA single crystal demonstrates birefringence and the beginning of a focal conic texture. The DNA concentration for this specimen is unknown but is presumed to be in the neighborhood of 400 milligrams per millimeter, and the magnification is approximately 200x. The digital image presented above was originally recorded on Fujichrome 64T transparency film using a Nikon Optiphot-Pol microscope with crossed polarized illumination. Exposures were recorded about 2.5 f-steps under the recommended value given by an in-camera photomultiplier and were push-processed approximately 1.5 f-steps in the first E-6 developer.
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/micro/gallery/dna/dna1.html
Glass is a solid. Someone once, when looking at an old window noticed the glass was thicker at the bottom than the top. He then checked other windows and saw the same. He then made the assumption the glass was slowly pooling at the bottom. Which is not true. In actual fact glass used to be installed with the thick side down, back when glass was not made perfectly flat. You can find equally as old glass with the thick side up in the same house (hastily installed upside down).
DNA does form crystals when dried, and then it is a solid. It's also a solute. I don't think it's ever a solvent.
Wristwatch
Registered Member
Glass is an amorphous solid. It is neither solid nor liquid.
If you entered a time machine and watched a glass cube over the projection of many billions of years in a matter of seconds, you would see it melt.
The myth of melting window glass is not a result of this process, true.
It terrifies me to see such educated individuals that mix truth with nonsense.