Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A serial dilution is the step-wise dilution of a substance in solution, either by using a constant dilution factor, or by using a variable factor between dilutions. If the dilution factor at each step is constant, this results in a geometric progression of the concentration in a logarithmic fashion.
In this method a measured sub-sample (perhaps 10 ml) is diluted with 100 ml of sterile growth medium and an aliquot of 10 ml is then decanted into each of ten tubes. The remaining 10 ml is then diluted again and the process repeated. At the end of 5 dilutions this produces 50 tubes covering the dilution range of 1:10 through to 1:10000.
For example, if there are 10 grams of salt (the solute) dissolved in 1 litre of water (the solvent), this solution has a certain salt concentration . If one adds 1 litre of water to this solution, the salt concentration is reduced. The diluted solution still contains 10 grams of salt (0.171 moles of NaCl).
Serial dilution of a solution results, after each dilution step, in fewer molecules of the original substance per litre of solution. Eventually, a solution will be diluted beyond any likelihood of finding a single molecule of the original substance in a litre of the total dilution product. The "Korsakovian" method may also be used.
In photographic development, dilutions are normally given in a '1+x' format. For example '1+49' would typically mean 1 part concentrate and 49 parts water, meaning a 500ml solution would require 10ml concentrate and 490ml water.
Depending on the expected density and viability of microbes present in a liquid sample, physical methods to increase the gradient as for example serial dilution or centrifugation may be chosen. In order to isolate organisms in materials with high microbial content, such as sewage, soil or stool, serial dilutions will increase the chance of ...
Although KF is a destructive analysis, the sample quantity is small and is typically limited by the accuracy of weighing. For example, in order to obtain an accuracy of 1% using a scale with the typical accuracy of 0.2 mg, the sample must contain 20 mg water, which is e.g. 200 mg for a sample with 10% water.
The count represents the number of colony forming units (cfu) per g (or per ml) of the sample. A TVC is achieved by plating serial tenfold dilutions of the sample until between 30 and 300 colonies can be counted on a single plate. The reported count is the number of colonies counted multiplied by the dilution used for the counted plate