... on a refractometer. Specific gravity measures the kidney's ability to concentrate or dilute urine in relation to plasma. Because urine is a solution of minerals, salts, and compounds dissolved in water, the specific gravity is greater than 1.0000. The chloride concentration was measured by placing one millilitre of the urine into a chloride meter, set to a standard solution of 100 millimolar. [K+] was calculated by means of a flame photometer. Urine is sucked into the photometer, and shot as a stream of ions into a carefully controlled flame. The resulting visible spectrum emitted, is compared to the visible spectrum emitted when a solution of known concentrations is sprayed into the same flame. In this investigation the photometer was calibrated to zero using distilled water, and calibrated to 100 using a 100 millimolar standard solution. Therefore, if a solution of potassium was sprayed into the flame, energy will be emitted ...

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