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Centrifuge
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This article is about the scientific device. For the Christian camp, see Centrifuge (camps). For
spin direction in quantum mechanics, see Spin (physics)#Spin direction.
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this
article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be
challenged and removed. (January 2009)

A laboratory tabletop centrifuge. The rotating unit, called the rotor, has fixed holes drilled at
an angle (to the vertical). Test tubes are placed in these slots and the motor is spun. As the
centrifugal force is in the horizontal plane and the tubes are fixed at an angle, the particles
have to travel only a little distance before they hit the wall and drop down to the bottom.
These angle rotors are very popular in the lab for routine use.
A centrifuge is a piece of equipment, generally driven by an electric motor (some older
models were spun by hand), that puts an object in rotation around a fixed axis, applying a
force perpendicular to the axis. The centrifuge works using the sedimentation principle,
where the centripetal acceleration causes denser substances to separate out along the radial
direction (the bottom of the tube). By the same token lighter objects will tend to move to the
top (of the tube; in the rotating picture, move to the centre).

Contents

1 Theory

2 History and predecessors

3 Types

4 Uses
o 4.1 Isolating suspensions
o 4.2 Isotope separation
o 4.3 Aeronautics and astronautics
o 4.4 Geotechnical Centrifuge Modeling
o 4.5 Commercial applications

5 References and notes

6 Further reading

7 See also

8 External links

Theory
Protocols for centrifugation typically specify the amount of acceleration to be applied to the
sample, rather than specifying a rotational speed such as revolutions per minute. This
distinction is important because two rotors with different diameters running at the same
rotational speed will subject samples to different accelerations. During circular motion the
acceleration is the product of the radius and the square of the angular velocity , and the
acceleration relative to "g" is traditionally named "relative centrifugal force" (RCF). The
acceleration is measured in multiples of "g" (or "g"), the standard acceleration due to
gravity at the Earth's surface, a dimensionless quantity given by the expression:

A 19th-century hand cranked laboratory centrifuge.

where
is earth's gravitational acceleration,
is the rotational radius,
is the angular velocity in radians per unit time
This relationship may be written as

where
is the rotational radius measured in centimetres (cm), and
is rotational speed measured in revolutions per minute (RPM).

History and predecessors

Early 20th century advertising poster for a milk separator.

English military engineer Benjamin Robins (17071751) invented a whirling arm apparatus
to determine drag. In 1864, Antonin Prandtl invented the first dairy centrifuge in order to
separate cream from milk. In first continuous centrifugal separator, making its commercial
application feasible.

Types
There are multiple types of centrifuge, which can be classified by intended use or by rotor
design:
Types by rotor design: [1][2][3][4]

Fixed-angle centrifuges are designed to hold the sample containers at a constant angle
relative to the central axis.

Swinging head (or swinging bucket) centrifuges, in contrast to fixed-angle

centrifuges, have a hinge where the sample containers are attached to the central rotor.
This allows the samples to swing outwards as the centrifuge is spun.

Continuous tubular centrifuges don't have individual sample vessels and are used for
high volume applications.

Types by intended use:

Ultracentrifuges are optimized for spinning a rotor at very high speeds and are
popular in the fields of molecular biology, biochemistry and polymer science. This
type may include preparative or analytical, fixed-angle or swing head varieties.[3]

Haematocrit centrifuges are used to measure the percentage of red blood cells in
whole blood.

Gas centrifuges, including Zippe-type centrifuges

Industrial centrifuges may otherwise be classified according to the type of separation of the
high density fraction from the low density one:

Screen centrifuges, where the centrifugal acceleration allows the liquid to pass
through a screen of some sort, through which the solids cannot go (due to
granulometry larger than the screen gap or due to agglomeration). Common types are:
o Screen/scroll centrifuges
o Pusher centrifuges
o Peeler centrifuges
o Decanter centrifuges, in which there is no physical separation between the
solid and liquid phase, rather an accelerated settling due to centrifugal
acceleration.
o Continuous liquid; common types are:

Solid bowl centrifuges

Conical plate centrifuges

Uses
Isolating suspensions
Main article: Laboratory centrifuge
Simple centrifuges are used in chemistry, biology, and biochemistry for isolating and
separating suspensions. They vary widely in speed and capacity. They usually comprise a
rotor containing two, four, six, or many more numbered wells within which the samples,
contained in centrifuge tubes, may be placed.

Isotope separation
Main article: Gas centrifuge
Other centrifuges, the first being the Zippe-type centrifuge, separate isotopes, and these kinds
of centrifuges are in use in nuclear power and nuclear weapon programs.

Gas centrifuges are used in uranium enrichment. The heavier isotope of uranium (uranium238) in the uranium hexafluoride gas tends to concentrate at the walls of the centrifuge as it
spins, while the desired uranium-235 isotope is extracted and concentrated with a scoop
selectively placed inside the centrifuge.[citation needed] It takes many thousands of centrifugations
to enrich uranium enough for use in a nuclear reactor (around 3.5% enrichment),[citation needed]
and many thousands more to enrich it to weapons-grade (above 90% enrichment) for use in
nuclear weapons.[citation needed]

Aeronautics and astronautics

Main article: High-G training

The 20 G centrifuge at the NASA Ames Research Center

Human centrifuges are exceptionally large centrifuges that test the reactions and tolerance
of pilots and astronauts to acceleration above those experienced in the Earth's gravity.
The US Air Force at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico operates a human centrifuge.
The centrifuge at Holloman AFB is operated by the aerospace physiology department for the
purpose of training and evaluating prospective fighter pilots for high-g flight in Air Force
fighter aircraft.[5]
The use of large centrifuges to simulate a feeling of gravity has been proposed for future
long-duration space missions. Exposure to this simulated gravity would prevent or reduce the
bone decalcification and muscle atrophy that affect individuals exposed to long periods of
freefall. [5] [6]

Geotechnical Centrifuge Modeling

Geotechnical centrifuge modeling is used for physical testing of models involving soils.
Centrifuge acceleration is applied to scale models to scale the gravitational acceleration and
enable prototype scale stresses to be obtained in scale models. Problems such as building and
bridge foundations, earth dams, tunnels, and slope stability, including effects such as blast
loading and earthquake shaking.[7]

Commercial applications

Centrifuges with a batch weight of up to 2,200 kg per charge are used in the sugar
industry to separate the sugar crystals from the mother liquor.[8]

Standalone centrifuges for drying (hand-washed) clothes usually with a water outlet.

Centrifuges are used in the attraction Mission: SPACE, located at Epcot in Walt
Disney World, which propels riders using a combination of a centrifuge and a motion
simulator to simulate the feeling of going into space.

In soil mechanics, centrifuges utilize centrifugal acceleration to match soil stresses in

a scale model to those found in reality.

Large industrial centrifuges are commonly used in water and wastewater treatment to
dry sludges. The resulting dry product is often termed cake, and the water leaving a
centrifuge after most of the solids have been removed is called centrate.

Large industrial centrifuges are also used in the oil industry to remove solids from the
drilling fluid.

Disc-stack centrifuges used by some companies in Oil Sands industry to separate

small amounts of water and solids from bitumen

Centrifuges are used to separate cream (remove fat) from milk.

References and notes

1.

^ "Basics of Centrifugation". Cole-Parmer. Retrieved 11 March 2012.

2.

^ "Plasmid DNA Separation: Fixed-Angle and Vertical Rotors in the Thermo

Scientific Sorvall Discovery M120 & M150 Microultracentrifuges" (Thermo
Fischer publication)

3.

^ab
http://uqu.edu.sa/files2/tiny_mce/plugins/filemanager/files/4250119/lectures/1._instr.p
df

4.

^ Heidcamp, Dr. William H.. "Appendix F". Cell Biology Laboratory Manual.
Gustavus Adolphus College,. Retrieved 11 March 2012.

5.

^ a b "The Pull of HyperGravity - A NASA researcher is studying the strange

effects of artificial gravity on humans.". NASA. Retrieved 11 March 2012.

6.

^ Hsu, Jeremy. "New Artificial Gravity Tests in Space Could Help

Astronauts". Space.com. Retrieved 11 March 2012.

7.

^ C. W. W. Ng, Y. H. Wang, L. M. Zhang (2006). Physical Modelling in

Geotechnics: proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Physical
Modelling in Geotechnics. Taylor & Francis. p. 135. ISBN 0-415-41586-1.

8.

^ article on centrifugal controls, retrieved on June 5, 2010

Further reading

Naesgaard et al., Modeling flow liquefaction, its mitigation, and comparison with centrifuge
tests

See also

Lamm equation

Sedimentation

Centrifugal force

Centrifugation

Gas centrifuge

Sedimentation coefficient

Clearing factor

Hydroextractor

External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Centrifuges
Look up centrifuge in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

RCF Calculator and Nomograph

RPI centrifuge video

OGEM LXJ Drilling Mud Centrifuge

Centrifugation Rotor Calculator

Lab Centrifuge Resource Center

Selection of historical centrifuges in the Virtual Laboratory of the Max Planck

Institute for the History of Science

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This page was last modified on 15 January 2013 at 15:19.

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