How to Avoid Meniscus Measuring Errors

Glass tube lab pipettes and burettes are capable of precisely dispensing reagents into samples but require outstanding patience and an accurate eye to take into account the meniscus of the reagent.  Most menisci are concave or U-shaped with the liquid in contact with the tube wall reading higher than at the center.   This property characterizes…

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Turning a Lab Homogenizer into a Flow-Through Chamber

Laboratory homogenizers represent a significant investment for research organizations engaged in developing new processing procedures across a broad range of industries.   Integrating or adding a flow through chamber to the homogenizer mixer greatly increases its functionality by enabling inline processing or extending the exposure of samples to the homogenization action. Here’s What Flow-Through Chambers Do…

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Accessorize your Scientific Homogenizer with an Analytical Mill

Particle size reduction on a laboratory scale is often required to formulate samples for further analysis.  While several techniques – such as using a mortar and pestle – can accomplish this, a faster, easier and cleaner technique is coupling an analytical mill grinding chamber to a scientific homogenizer.  Admittedly the sample size is smaller than…

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A Quick Guide to Lab Homogenizers

Laboratory homogenizers are among the most versatile tools in research.  Lab homogenizers are virtually indispensible because they help scientists efficiently evaluate various approaches to mixing, dispersing, cell disrupting, emulsifying, particle reduction and similar exercises.  The objective is developing efficient homogenizing procedures that can be scaled to commercial production levels. Selecting a Homogenizer Mixer Homogenizer mixers…

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Bottle Top Burettes need TLC Too!

The temptation to become lax in cleaning and maintaining bottletop burettes can lead to real problems.  This is why any company using a bottle-top buret for dispensing, metering, titrating or dosing should have a strict and easily understood standard operating procedure (SOP) as part of confirming to good laboratory practice (GLP) within their organization. Why…

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Titration with a Bottletop Burette

Simplify Titration with a Bottletop Burette Titration is a common laboratory exercise employed to determine the unknown concentration of a substance called the analyte (a.k.a. titrand or what you are analyzing for) in a solution.   This is accomplished by carefully and precisely metering a reagent (a.k.a. titrant) into the solution until a reaction occurs.  The…

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Calibrating a Bottletop Burette

When to Calibrate a Bottle Top Burette Let’s start with why we should calibrate a bottle top burette.  Bottletop burets are designed to precisely meter reagents into a vessel until a reaction occurs.  Accuracy is paramount, and in the case of burettes we’re talking in increments of micro liters (µl).  Bottletop burettes are mechanical devices…

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Burette Glossary of Terms

A Bottle-Top Burette Glossary of Terms Scientific instruments including metering and dispensing equipment such as bottle top burettes have their own nomenclature.  For the uninitiated this can cause vexation as one struggles to understand what is being talked about.   We at CAT Scientific think it is helpful to provide definitions of terminology applied to bottletop…

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Bottle-Top Burette Purchasing Decisions

What to Look for in a Bottle-Top Burette Burettes and their close cousin pipettes are used for precision metering and dispensing reagents into a solution, usually as part of performing a chemical analysis.  Burets are glass tubes with capacity markings in milliliters.  They have a valve at the bottom that is used by researchers to…

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A Guide to Homogenizer Components

When selecting a laboratory-grade homogenizer research and process development scientists generally focus on the objective of the emulsifying exercise and the physical characteristics of the material being studied.  This information will guide the selection of the rotor and stator configuration. To get the terminology straight in this post we call the rotor (attached to the…

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