[GuligKanin]

Experiment: I want to collect pollen and mold spores in a petri dish. Never mind why. I use a fan to blow a higher volume of air into the dish. The dish is filled with mineral spirits and evaporates in 2 minutes at room temp with the fan on, so I blow air on it for 1 minute, then let the evaporative oil finish evaporating, then I put it under the microscope.

The pollen and mold don't stick to the mineral spirits! Why? It sticks in the water, it works with vaseline, why doesn't this work? Is there some kind of chemical repellence going on?

Do mineral spirits have a net pos or neg charge?

[Arkcon]

Experiment: I want to collect pollen and mold spores in a petri dish. Never mind why.

You say that like its something we wouldn't all enjoy.

I use a fan to blow a higher volume of air into the dish.

A good way to sample the environment.

The dish is filled with mineral spirits and evaporates in 2 minutes at room temp with the fan on, so I blow air on it for 1 minute, then let the evaporative oil finish evaporating, then I put it under the microscope.

I don't know exactly what you're talking about.  You may be using jargon.  However, we can guess that you have a solvent the evaporates but traps spores first.  Is evaporative oil the same as mineral spirits?

The pollen and mold don't stick to the mineral spirits!

Should they?

Why? It sticks in the water, it works with vaseline, why doesn't this work?

II don't understand.  You doi the same with water, but after evaporating, the spores stick to the slide.  And you're not blowing them off.  But maybe you are with mineral spirits?

Is there some kind of chemical repellence going on?

I'm not seeing a mechanism.  Or if that's a word, even.

Do mineral spirits have a net pos or neg charge?

Not seeing the relevance.

[GuligKanin]

Evaporative oil is what some trades call mineral spirits. I have used the configuration I describe above, except with water, to collect pollen and mold. I like the mineral spirits idea because it evaporates quickly. But for some reason, the pollen and the mold just bounce off. Looking for opinions as to why.

Pollen often has a net negative or positive charge and this very much affects whether pollen makes contact with the flower. I wondered if charge of the mineral spirits was repelling the pollen.

[billnotgatez]

Evaporative oil is what some trades call mineral spirits. ...

Could you give the brand name?

[GuligKanin]

I have tried SunnySide (evaporates too slow, but pollen doesn't stick) and Gamblin brand Gamsol Mineral Spirits (high grade for artists).