How To Make Saline Solution

Saline solution is nothing but a sterile solution that is produced by mixing together sodium chloride, i.e. common salt and water. Wondering why are we talking about sodium chloride and water? Well, here is the answer. Saline solution is the solution that is recommended by experts to be used as an intravenous mixture, along with glucose, in order to reduce the amount of sodium flowing through the blood stream. Saline solution is recommended for other medical purposes as well, such as rinsing and storing safely the contact lenses and for nasal irrigation at times of sinus infections. Saline solution is also used in cell biology, biochemistry and molecular biology experiments. Well, have you ever thought if you get a sinus attack suddenly in the middle of the night or need to clean your contact lenses, from where do you  get saline solution? Why not make it at home? Yes, this article will provide you with methods to make saline solution that will accomplish all your purposes.

Making Saline Solution

Ingredients

• 8 oz Warm Water
• 1tsp Salt
• 2 tsp Baking Soda (Optional)

Preparation

• Bring the water to boil for about 10 minutes. Let the water stand after it reaches boiling point until it cools down to room temperature.
• Once sufficiently cool, put the salt into water and stir gently till salt gets completely dissolved in water. You can also dissolve baking soda along with salt in the water if you wish to do so.
• Stir in enough salt and let the water stand for a while. You can use this saline solution as directed by the expert and then throw the left over solution.

The Heating Method

• In order to make the saline solution through this method you will have to heat up enough water based on the amount of solution you need. Any bottle of 8-16 oz will serve the purpose based on the amount of solution you want to store. Make sure to label the bottle after filling up the salt solution.
• Heat up the water above room temperature, but do not let it boil. Once the water is hot enough, turn off the gas and stir in salt with a teaspoon. Stir the water with the help of a wooden spoon, continuously while adding salt.
• Keep adding salt and stir until the water reaches full saturation point and when you notice salt crystals are no longer getting dissolved, let the water sit for a while. After few seconds if no salt crystals are seen then you can add more salt until few crystals remains undissolved.
• Once the water completely reaches saturation point, let it cool to room temperature to find few more crystals being collected at the bottom of the pan. Once the pan reaches room temperature, pour in the mixture into your labelled bottle. While transferring the solution make sure not to allow the undissolved crystals to flow in. Make use of a filtering agent if you find yourself clumsy and shaky while transferring the liquid into the bottle.

The Overnight Method

• In order to prepare pure saline solution by the overnight solution, fill in 1/4^th of a glass container that can be sealed with sea salt crystals. Sea salt is preferred over common table salt since table salt contains other ingredients and might also contain iodine.
• Once you have filled the bottle with sea salt, pour in spring water or distilled water to fill up the container till the brim. Now let it sit for 24 hours and then see whether or not salt crystals have completely dissolved.
• If the salt has completely dissolved after 24 hours, add some more salt and keep adding until the water reaches maximum saturation point and the salt crystals start sitting at the bottom of the jar.
• This is when the saline solution is ready to use since the solution is now at 26 percent saturation point. In order to make more salt solution, you will have to repeat the entire procedure all over again.