Yes and no. In our chemistry building (4 floors all of chem research
:-) the "DI" (DeIonized) water is actually made by distillation*. The only
difference is the purity- you can make distilled water really easy.  As
for DeIonized (aka DI) water, they put it through a ion specific membranes
(sort of like your water softner at home) that leach out the ions, etc.

*The DI system here is actually a little of each- the distilled water is
forced through the membrane- this saves $ because the membrane tanks
otherwise need regular service and recharging.

So in summary, the only significant difference is the purity- which can me
measured by resistance... 10e-8 mOhms/cm is 'nanopure'.... damn pure!

Better living through chemistry!
Matthew
98bs chem cpslo
99 ms physics sjsu
04phd chem u of I

Matthew Pollard             http://www.uidaho.edu/~poll7356
Dept. of Chemistry               http://www.chem.uidaho.edu
University of Idaho                   http://www.uidaho.edu

On Mon, 28 Aug 2000, Todd Last wrote:

> Is there a difference between distilled and deionized water?
>