Water is an excellent and non-toxic solvent. That is why life on Earth is so dependent on it, and why it is the reagent of choice for much wet laboratory work across many scientific fields, including biology, chemistry, and physics. However, for the researcher, the strong solvent properties of water can pose a problem: it happily mixes with and dissolves a wide range of factors and is therefore easily contaminated. Laboratory researchers therefore use purified water for most procedures and experiments. So that you can make the best decision for your lab, we’ve explored and debunked a number of water myths in this ebook.