What are pipettes– A pipette is a measuring instrument with a certain range, which can quantitatively pipette or add liquid reagents, and has the characteristics of fast and accurate!
The predecessor of the pipette:
- More than a hundred years ago, the pipette use to transfer liquids. The so-called pipette is a hollow glass tube marked with some scales.
- Insert this glass tube into the liquid, and use the mouth on the other end of the tube or the ear ball to draw the liquid into the tube, the scale at the top tells us how much liquid there is.
- After filling the amount we need, plug the end of the straw with your thumb, then place the tube into another container, release the handle, and let the liquid in the tube flow into the second container.
- This completes our task of transferring the liquid!
The birth of the pipette:
- However, with the progress of society, the elites found that the pipette was really difficult to use, tired and slow, and it was not easy to clean.
- As a result, loose thoughts accumulate, accumulate, and explode in the brain – and the gorgeous pipette is born!
How A pipette work:
- Generally speaking, there are two types of pipettes, one is the exhaust type (the official name, which is the pipette we usually use);
- The other is the external piston-type often as a pipette, it is often for transferring special liquids, and the application range is relatively narrow.
- The so-called exhaust type means that the piston is pressed down and the air inside the lower end of the pipette is pressed out.
- Then, when the piston moves upward, the air pressure inside the lower end of the pipette is smaller than the external air pressure
- The so-called outer piston type is actually the same as the principle of the syringe.
- And if you have seen the working process of the syringe, you can probably understand the principle of the outer piston type.
Pipettes volume range:
- The original pipette cannot adjust the volume, which fixed volume pipette on the market now.
- Over time, this pipette has struggled to meet the needs of the modern researcher.
- Later, a pipette with an adjustable range appeared, but there are fewer optional ranges, which is indeed much more convenient than the previous one.
- However, this kind of pipette is limited in range selection and gradually eliminated. We also classify this type of pipette as a fixed volume pipette.
- Freely adjusted within a certain range in the mainstream pipettes on the market, which are adjustable volume pipettes.
- Generally speaking, the volume adjustment range of the pipette is 10%-100% of its marked larger volume.
The number of pipettes channels:
- From the first pipette to the mainstream of the pipette market, only one transferred liquid sample at a time, which we call a single-channel pipette.
- But with the rapid development of the life science field, many times single-channel pipette means inefficiency.
- Thus, multi-channel pipettes have emerged, that is, a single pipetting operation can transfer multiple liquid samples.
- There are many types of multi-channel pipettes on the market today, including 6 channels, 8 channels, 12 channel multichannel pipettes, 16 channels, 24 channels, and even 36 channels, 48 channels, 64 channels, etc.
- For a long time since accomplished the introduction of pipettes, aspiration, and discharge by the movement of a thumb-driven piston.
- In short, an electric pipette uses a tiny motor to drive the piston movement, allowing people to aspirate and dispense liquid with the push of a button.
- In this way, the thumb does not have to complain every day. We believe that the replacement of manual pipettes with electric pipettes is an irreversible trend in the future.
There are more introduces about what is adjustable pipettes, how to disinfect a pipette, etc.
