i was woundering if you could test the qulity of a drug by testing the ph like for example coke if i mixed some coke in a littile water (first making sure that the water is at neutral level aka 7 on the ph scale)then tested the mixture with a ph strip would it work? also would the chemicals they cut the drugs with mess up the test or can i even use ph to test stuff like that
A cocaine hydrochloride solution in water will have an acidic pH (due to the HCl), but this is not a useful test for quality or purity...
In short, no. pH testing only determines the degree of acidity/alkalinity, not the chemical identity of a substance. If you are looking for a simple, crude test to help identify a substance or look for cuts, try a melting point test.
with pH being the negative of the logarithm of the concentration of the hydronium ion in aqueous solutions, with "neutral" (as in distilled deionized H20) defined (& calculated - y'know they had to conduct a poll of every water molecule in a liter of water ) as 7.0... a few of the H2O molecules dissociate into H+ ("free protons")(which form H3O+ ions, aka "hydronium") & OH- (hydroxyl group) the "p" is negative log & the "H" is [H30+] or concentration of hydronium ion)
Try a melt point test. If memory serves, cocaine HCL melts at 198 C. If you can pass 185 C, you're kicking ass.
In addition to looking for the specific melting point of the substance being tested for, the RANGE of temperatures around the melting point is important, as well. The purer a substance, the "sharper" the MP will be. Impurities cause a "broadening" of the melting point.