Question

Chemically speaking, is either crystal violet or safranin a better stain for simple staining?   Why or why not?

Answer 1

Safranin is a better strain for staining than crystal violet
Explanation: Safranin is a counter starin that is retained in cells and used for differentiating withing gram positive and gram negative cells whereas crystal violet is principal stain and stains only gram positive bacteria while gram staining so can't be used for diefferentiating. When principal stain crystal violet is applied all cells become purple then they are treated with mordant and decolorising agent , the cells with thick peptidoglycan layers retain crystal violet stain and remail purple whereas from thin layered cells it is washed awat . Then safranin is added , This stains the decollorised cells pink and is not noticable that much in thick waled cells . Thus it helps in differentiation process.