Solution Preparation in biotechnology laboratory: A short note

Solution preparation involves mixing liquids and dissolving solids in liquids. There are many specialized devices in addition to balances, volume measuring devices, and pH meters involved in these processes.

  1. Magnetic stirrers come in the form of a box with a magnet inside attached to a motor that spins the magnet. When a vessel containing a magnetic stir bar is on top of the magnetic stirrer, the stir bar spins and stirs the contents of the vessel.
  1. A vortex mixer rotates the bottom of a tube rapidly; setting up a vortex in the liquid that rapidly mixes the contents.
  1. A rotovaporization system can be used to rapidly reduce the volume (and thereby increase the concentration) of a solution by evaporation of solvent. To do this a round bottom flask containing the solution is spun to coat the glass with solution, creating a large surface area for the solvent to evaporate more rapidly. To increase the evaporation rates, a vacuum is pulled on the spinning flask and the flask can be spun in a heated water bath. To prevent the vacuum pump from being damaged by evaporating solvent, a condenser coil is placed between the flask and the pump to condense the solvent from the air.

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