Equivalence Points and Sour Milk

It's been a while since I've updated anything on here and I had an interesting thought pattern this week that I thought I would share. While I was at home over Spring Break (which was lovely, yes, thanks for asking) I listened to someone tell a story about how she was out driving in the pouring rain, but when she turned the corner it was completely dry. She was describing this picture and I thought about the times that I've experienced similar situations. It always reminds me of a cartoon depiction of a rain cloud directly over the head of an individual character. There has to be a line somewhere. Rain doesn't fall everywhere - there is some line, where you can be standing in the rain, take one step to the left, and be out of the rain. Right? Right. Anyway, I was sitting in class thinking about this concept and thinking about the fact that the milk in my refrigerator was about to go bad and I needed to get more. The date on the carton said "Sell by 3/20/09" and by this point it was probably "3/25/09" and it was still good. So naturally, I translate the concept of the rain to my potentially souring milk.

I remember in my chemistry classes doing a titration (ahhh!) that illustrated this very same concept. For example, you have a clear solution in a beaker (when was the last time I said/typed that word?!?) - you titrate another solution into the beaker, literally adding...drop...by...drop. Fun, right? About as exciting as watching paint dry. Good thing I switched majors. But no, I did love it. Anyway, I digress. So you add this stuff, drop...by...drop, and at some point (also known as the equivalence point) the solution turns pink -for a whole lot of reasons you don't want to hear about. Regardless, there is a line, a point at which a clear solution, just one drop later, becomes pink.

Back to the milk, so there has to be a moment in time when the milk sours, right? Right. So I'm thinking there is a point when the milk is still good...and at some given "equivalence point" (borrowing from my chemistry background) the milk would turn from good to bad. The real thought I had was how weird would it be if that moment just so happened to occur in the middle of your milk drinking?!? I mean, what if I came home, poured myself a glass of milk, had a sip, opened the refrigerator to put the carton away, then had another sip and the milk was SOUR! That would be crazy, right?!?! I think so too. Well, it could have happened I suppose, but after this incredibly enlightening thought process, when I got out of class, I went to the store, bought a new gallon of milk and threw the other one out. I guess I'll never know the equivalence point of sour milk. How will I live?

P.S. - It's entirely possible that there is a gradient of souring milk that occurs as opposed to an absolute point. Given that I am not a dairier (or a derriere for that matter), I wouldn't know. Anyone with greater knowledge than I, feel free to correct me. There was that ONE time I was wrong before...I guess it could happen again :)