Summary Info
Recipe: 16 oz. (by weight) tap water, 1 oz (by weight) Dawn Pro, .4 grams baking soda, .2 grams citric acid, HEC powder (amount and type different for each test solution.
Mixing Method: The combined powders were stirred (by hand with a stirring water) into very warm but not hot water and stirred until the solution was uniform (less than 3 minutes). Detergent then added. All solutions remained uniform with no sign of a heavier layer forming as the solutions aged.
Loop: 3-strand cord of bamboo yarn, 32-inch per side tri-string
Conditions: shifting winds, 55% relative humidity, air temperature 60F
Conclusions: At least under these conditions, the very viscous 3 grams Herbarie HEC per 16 oz. of water was the clear winner. The 1 gram Herbarie HEC per 16 oz. solution was the clear loser (based on the opinions of several people that watched the videos without knowing anything about the solutions). The losing solution did poorly enough that I will be surprised if it were not the loser when compared under better conditions in the future. However, it may be that under less windy conditions that it would not fare as well. The QP100MH solution underperformed expectations. The conditions were so poor and the wind so changeable that it isn't safe to draw any strong conclusions from this trial. It will be interesting to compare the results under better condition and see if they are consistent with what happened today.
VIDEOS[]
For the most part, no attempt was made to close the bubbles unless they seemed like they would go out of frame or occationally to break the tedium.
Solution 01 - Herbarie HEC 1 gr/16 oz water
thumb|640px|left|Solution 01
Solution 02 - Herbarie HEC 2 gr/16 oz water thumb|640px|right|Solution 02
Solution 03 - Herbarie HEC 3 gr/16 oz water thumb|640px|left|Solution 03
Solution 04 - CelloSize QP100MH HEC 1 gr/16 oz water thumb|640px|left|Solution 4
FOR COMPARISON
Here are videos of HERBARIE HEC-based juice under better conditions using a Lehigh diamond braid cord (which has a bit more size potential than the bamboo cord used in today's trials
thumb|640px|left|Mix using Herbarie HEC 3 grams per 16 oz water
Here was a solution that used one-third as much QP100MH on the same day (2011 04 14)
thumb|640px|left|Dow Cellosize QP100MH-based mix (1 gram per 16 oz. water)
Viscosity Notes[]
I performed some crude viscosity comparisons to see if the performance was relative to the viscosity. The Herbarie HEC seems to require greater viscosity than a mix made with QP100MH to achieve comparable results. The ideal viscosity seems to depend on the particular HEC being used. Some further explorations with Natrosol 250HR were consistent with this. The 250HR solutions seem to need to be a bit more viscous than a QP100MH solution to get the same results -- but with the 250HR it seems to need only slightly more viscosity -- whereas the Herbarie HEC seems to need quite a bit more viscosity. A 250HR soluiton as viscous as this trial's Solution 03 -- seems not to work very well but a viscosity similar to solution 02 seems to work very well.
These results should not be taken too seriously as they have not been repeated and do need to be repeated in better condtions. So, these conclusions may be premature.
The times below were for the draining from the 20 ml mark to the 0 ml mark in syringes labeled as 20 ml syringes (they can hold 24 ml if filled to the brim. The times were:
Herbarie HEC
1 gram/16 oz = 11.0 seconds
2 gram/16 oz = 15.4 seconds
3 gram/16 oz = 33.4 seconds
QP100MH
1 gram/16 oz = 12.4 seconds
Water = 9.5 seconds
Jumbo Juice = 11.8