Expert: Henry Boyter - 9/20/2007

Question
Hi, if I want to find what the chemical makeup is in a liquid are there labs that can do that?

Thanks

Answer
Sorry, I hit the wrong button the first time and you may get a reject of your question.

If all you have is an unknown liquid and you know zero about it, then it is almost impossible to test.  If you took it to a lab, they would ask $10,000-$25,000 to start.  This is because there are over 500,000 chemicals in commerce and you may have to test them all, theoretically.  Even at a $1 per test, you can see what that would cost.  There is not a single magical test like you see on CSI.

If you know something about the product, there are labs that can help.  But I would need to know that info.  If it was a food product there are labs, if a pharmaceutical or health and beauty aid, that is another lab.  If it is an industrial chemical those are other labs. Petroleum would be a different set of labs.

You really need to have some information.  Even something simple like motor oil is very hard to test because there are thousands of combinations of natural and synthetic oils you can have.  It is easy to tell you the family (petroleum) but the specifics is where it gets hard.