BEE-L Archives

Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

BEE-L@COMMUNITY.LSOFT.COM

Options: Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
Richard Cryberg <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 29 May 2015 06:14:02 -0700
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (19 lines)
"Is bee proboscide or mandibulary "jaw clamps" a humid tissue?

Is it possible bees were touching Varroa mouth with GlycerOx and ionization
occurs because moisture of hemolynph that Varroa is sucking? Then Varroa
could be cooked by this ionization as my fingers..."

Glycerol is nearly as good at coordinating with hydrogen ions as water.  Coordination is the word used when the solvent is not water and hydration when it is water.  If you mixed sulfuric acid and pure glycerol I would expect a lot of heat generation.  Oxalic acid is a pretty strong acid for an organic acid.  From memory over 100 times stronger than acetic acid.  Still, moisture on the surface of varroa at the point oxalic acid attacks could be important as such tissues might be a lot more sensitive than chitin just like the moist area under your finger nails.  It is a puzzle to me why oxalic vaporized or dribbled can knock down varroa and not kill or apparently harm bees.  Varroa must have some point sensitive to attack that bees lack.  I have no idea what that point is.  Oxalic acid also reacts with calcium ions forming the very insoluble calcium oxalate.  Calcium oxalate might be toxic to varroa simply because the insect has no way to get rid of it. 
 I think I recall that oxalic acid is toxic to mammals because the tiny calcium oxalate crystals formed in the body block the passages in kidneys resulting in kidney failure.  My point is it may not be the acidity of oxalic acid that results in varroa death and lack of bee death.

Dick


" Any discovery made by the human mind can be explained in its essentials to the curious learner."  Professor Benjamin Schumacher talking about teaching quantum mechanics to non scientists.   "For every complex problem there is a solution which is simple, neat and wrong."  H. L. Mencken

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

ATOM RSS1 RSS2