Today's Centrifuges Offer Options For Every Research Need

COMPACT UNIT: Accurate Chemical and Scientific’s Saturn Micro24 microcentrifuge Centrifuges are a little like cars: For most biological laboratories they are an essential piece of equipment, but they may chug along for years with little service and less thought. When it comes time to buy a new one, make and model choices abound. With centrifuges, as with cars, capacity and features vary, but you can likely find one to meet your needs and your budget. Centrifuges work by spinning a samp

Written byJames Kling

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COMPACT UNIT: Accurate Chemical and Scientific’s Saturn Micro24 microcentrifuge

Centrifuges are a little like cars: For most biological laboratories they are an essential piece of equipment, but they may chug along for years with little service and less thought. When it comes time to buy a new one, make and model choices abound. With centrifuges, as with cars, capacity and features vary, but you can likely find one to meet your needs and your budget.

Centrifuges work by spinning a sample-filled rotor about its axis, creating an outward centrifugal force. Exposed to this gravitational pull, or g-force, more dense particles move faster, allowing the researcher to remove denser material as it forms "pellets" at the base of the tube. Alternatively, gradient centrifugation uses media that gradually increase in density toward the bottom of the tube, causing particles to settle where their density is identical to that of the surrounding liquid.

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