Micropipet Practice
Would you like to practice using micropipets? Micropipets are used by biologists to accurately deliver very small volumes of liquid - as little as 1/10,000,000 of a liter! These pages are designed to help you understand how to use these devices. (Requires a browser of version 4 or higher.)
Click here to review the steps used to transfer a volume of liquid from
one container to another.
Practice
dialing a volume to deliver.
Learn how to read the dials of a micropipet.
For tips, click here.
Do's and Don'ts
There are several important things to know about using a micropipet, including:
- The line on the dial (red, in the dial shown above) represents a decimal point.
- When ready to draw liquid up into the micropipet, press only to the first 'stop' - any further and the volume will not be accurate.
- When delivering the liquid to its destination, press to the first stop to the second - this insures all the liquid is expelled.
- Do not dial volumes above the maximum range nor below the minimum range of the micropipet.
- Use a new, clean tip for every transfer you make. This may sound wasteful, but contamination will ruin your experiment if you don't You may not be able to see any chemical adhering to the sides of the tip, but it's there!
- Never tip the micropipet upside down when transferring liquid! This means that the tip should ALWAYS be lower than the rest of the micropipet. If liquid gets into the micropipet mechanism, it will destroy the micropipet.
- Don't touch the tip! To put a tip on the micropipet, press the micropipet onto the tip while it is in the tip box. Eject the tip into a waste container using the ejection plunger on the micropipet.
- On occasion, you may need to tighten the tip onto the micropipet. To do this, twist the collar of the tip to snug it up. Don't touch the part of the tip that will be in contact with any liquid.
