sonicator rules

June 26, 2007 at 4:13 pm | | everyday science, hardware

I’ve got a question to all the chemists out there: Why can’t I put anything on the bottom of the sonicator bath? It says not to right here:

sonicator_donot.jpg

But we often put stuff directly on the bottom of the bath while the sonicator is on:

sonicator.jpg

I mean, what’s the big deal? Does anyone have a good reason? Could it damage the sample or the sonicator?

The latter would explain why we’ve gone through a baker’s dozen of sonicators in the last six months.

5 Comments »

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  1. I’ve always clamped the sample from that lab stand you have sitting right next to it so it does not rest on the bottom. I could imagine how it might damage it if you don’t. I’d also expect you get better “sonicating power” that way too?

    Comment by Fell — June 26, 2007 #

  2. The sonicator works by propogating sound waves throught the surrounding plates, and this then propogates the motion through the solutoin, right? If you place something directly against the metal surface that is vibrated, then it will take more work to get it to vibrate at the desired frequency. It may have to do with that.

    I know that we used to sonicat things by placing them directly on the bottom of the sonicator (of course then you also can’t fill to the necessary water level). The result was two burned-out sonicators. In our new we’re following the rules, and the sonicator is working great.

    Comment by charles — June 27, 2007 #

  3. Yep, those transducer “loudspeakers” are on the bottom of the steel pot facing upwards. So if you cover them with a solid object, it blocks the ultrasound from getting out into the water. Also, placing an object over the transducers can let bubbles or even steam pockets form in the thin water layer between the object and the steel bottom, and since bubbles are thermal insulators, this keeps cooling water out of contact and heats up the steel bottom enough that the transducers can crack. (A cracked transducer isn’t resonant, so it stops working.)

    Comment by W Beaty — July 20, 2007 #

  4. […] Everyday Scientist » sonicator rulesJun 26, 2007 … Could it damage the sample or the sonicator? … The sonicator works by propogating sound waves throught the surrounding plates, and this … […]

    Pingback by Sonicators tutorial | Xsitalia — May 3, 2012 #

  5. Dear,

    could you tell me what is the water level limit in the Sonicator.

    Comment by Pankaj Jha — August 2, 2017 #

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