... NN uses sulfuric acid and claims that, "Unlike other nicotine test kits on the market, we utilize a more dilute acid solution for increased resolution in readings. Tl;dr - Your results will likely be more accurate than competing nicotine test kits!"...
OK, so I looked at the NN kit. NN indeed is capable of being more accurate if your use your own (ie better) labware. Not because the acid is more dilute, but because it is more precise, .01M vs .1M used by most others, if the .1M was .10M then they would be equally precise.
What Dr Kurt was trying to explain is that unless your acid is very precise,
AND your labware is very precise, then your result cannot be very precise.
Acids expressed as 0.1M are not accurate enough to get more than +/- 10mgml, but NN's .01M could get you to +/- 1mgml
providing you are measuring volumes precisely. NN's use of syringes and 15 & 50mL graduated conical vials wont give you +/- .1ml precision of volume, so really you are back to about +/- 10 mgml capability. To get +/- 1mgml you need to dispense that .01M acid with a "class A"
burette that measures down to .1ml, and know
how to read the meniscus. Syringes wont give you that kind of precision.
Their reagent is good enough, but their labware lacks the precision needed to get better than +/- 10mgml.
Its still probably a better kit than most though.
For those using
nicotine salts: it is important to note that these titration kits do not work at all for
nicotine salts.
salts already have acid in them which alters (lowers) the pH and makes the Bromothymol Blue titration method invalid.