Metric System
- The prefixes you really need to know: kilo, milli, micro, nano
- Move the decimal place 3 to the right to go to a smaller prefix (e.g. milli to micro)
- Move the decimal place 3 to the left to go to a larger prefix (e.g. nano to micro)
The Micropipetters
P20 — max 20 microlitres — top digit is tens of µl
(max reading of “200” means 20 µl, otherwise top digit can only be set to 0 or 1#)- P200 — max 200 microlitres — top digit is hundreds of µl
(max reading of “200” means 200 µl, otherwise top digit can only be set to 0 or 1∧) - P1000 — max 1000 microlitres — top digit is thousands of µl
(max reading of “1000” means 1000 µl, otherwise top digit can only be set to 0*)
#Or 2 if the other digits are set to zero – which will then be a volume of 20 microlitres.
^Or 2 if the other digits are set to zero – which will then be a volume of 200 microlitres.
*Or 1 if the other digits are set to zero — which will then be a volume of 1000 microlitres.
Be careful with those pipettes!!!
Learning Outcomes
After completing this module, you should be able to:
- do some basic conversions, most importantly between milli, micro, nano, etc.
- understand how micropipettes (also referred to as pipette, pipetman, micropipetter, etc.) work and which pipette is ideal to use for any given volume that you want to dispense
If you want a printer-friendly version of this module, you can find it here in a PDF document. This printer-friendly version should be used only to review, as it does not contain any of the interactive material, and only a skeletal version of problems solved in the module.