This does not apply to electronics. You want that 99% to leave as little moisture as possible.
Comment on What to do with glassware that is impossible to clean
Bassman1805@lemmy.world 6 days agoA note on alcohol as a cleaner:
Alcohol is actually a more potent solvent when in solution with water. 70% isopropyl alcohol is so prevalent because it’s actually more effective than higher concentrations.
Case@lemmynsfw.com 6 days ago
Uranium_Green@sh.itjust.works 6 days ago
Idk how true that is, it’ll be highly dependent on what you’re trying to dissolve.
This sounds to me more like the advice I’ve heard for using isopropyl for sterilizing equipment and surfaces, its more to do with how quickly the pure stuff evaporates. Evaporate too quickly and it doesn’t sterilize, whereas 70% is best of both worlds.
akwd169@sh.itjust.works 6 days ago
Furthermore, for sterilization 70% is more effective because the other 30% is water, which helps ensure everything is exposed to isoprop for long enough and bacterial cells take in the isoprop and die (because water passes through the cell membrane, taking isoprop into the cell with it), rather than ‘hunkering down’ and surviving until the solvent is gone
However for cleaning electronics, the water content is bad because it does not dry quickly and can cause corrosion, so 99% is needed
So the percentages have varying uses and should be chosen based on the task at hand
Bassman1805@lemmy.world 6 days ago
Hmm, I think you’re right about sterilization vs gunk removal. Got those most up.
scsi@lemm.ee 6 days ago
At the quantity the OP might use, buying by the gallon might make more sense - having a look to Amazon, the popular concentrations in gallon+ sizes are 70% and 99.9% (about the same price, $25 USD/gal) - it probably makes more logistical sense to go with 70% here to reduce evaporation and increase usable liquid on these tall, thin objects (so let’s say “sloppy use” of oddly shaped hard to handle glass).
I’ll leave my update at 70% concentration as the more economical choice - I’d presume based on their comment a soak in ZAP ($18 USD/gal) first is needed, then followed by the iso method… so it’s a little expensive no matter what for something they might not care about that much.