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During a relatively short or slow centrifugation, the particles are separated by size, with larger particles sedimenting farther than smaller ones. Over a long or fast centrifugation, particles travel to locations in the gradient where the density of the medium is the same as that of the particle density; (ρp – ρm) → 0.
A centrifuge can be a very effective filter that separates contaminants from the main body of fluid. Industrial scale centrifuges are commonly used in manufacturing and waste processing to sediment suspended solids, or to separate immiscible liquids. An example is the cream separator found in dairies.
A laboratory centrifuge is a piece of laboratory equipment, driven by a motor, which spins liquid samples at high speed. There are various types of centrifuges, depending on the size and the sample capacity.
Differential centrifugation, on the other hand, does not utilize a density gradient, and the centrifugation is taken in increasing speeds. The different centrifugation speeds often create separation into not more than two fractions, so the supernatant can be separated further in additional centrifugation steps.
Differential centrifugation. Fractionation is a separation process in which a certain quantity of a mixture (of gasses, solids, liquids, enzymes, or isotopes, or a suspension) is divided during a phase transition, into a number of smaller quantities in which the composition varies according to a gradient.
Diagram of a gas centrifuge with countercurrent flow, used for separating isotopes of uranium. A gas centrifuge is a device that performs isotope separation of gases. A centrifuge relies on the principles of centrifugal force accelerating molecules so that particles of different masses are physically separated in a gradient along the radius of a rotating container.
Centrifuges are used in science and industry to separate substances. In the reference frame spinning with the centrifuge, the centrifugal force induces a hydrostatic pressure gradient in fluid-filled tubes oriented perpendicular to the axis of rotation, giving rise to large buoyant forces which push low-density particles inward. Elements or ...
Svedberg won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1926 for his research on colloids and proteins using the ultracentrifuge. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 3 ] In early 1930s, Émile Henriot found that suitably placed jets of compressed air can spin a bearingless top to very high speeds and developed an ultracentrifuge on that principle.