Move liquids with sound

We use sound to move liquids. An ultrasonic pulse is applied to the bottom of a container and a droplet of 2.5 nanoliters is ejected. The diameter of this droplet is about that of a human hair. A nanoliter is one billionth of a liter. I have this as the screen saver on my computer. I find the droplet is Zen-like. Visit Labcyte at www.labcyte.com to find out more.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• ADE
• acoustics
• levitate
• move liquids with sound
• Echo

[xplodsion]

cool probaly cost loads for equipment

[DrAcoustix]

Depends. If you buy a system designed for the pharmaceutical industry, it is very expensive because it is so prcise. But the original version (invented in 1927) used a commercial transducer and a bucket of oil. Today it would be less than $100. But more erratic with lots of variation in drop volumes and frequency.

[abandiz]

@abandiz The droplet size is set primarily by the frequency of the sound. In this case, the droplet is about 2.5 nL and teh frequency is about 10.5 MHz.

[lacanau]

@abandiz

Can you give any hint as to what sort of frequencies are being used in this process?

[blondecrazygaijin]

great method! will really help reduce well-to-well cross contamination, etc.

Slick..!!

[abandiz]

@lacanau

While it is similar to a falling droplet played in reverse, you can see that there are no surface ripples at the beginning. If it was a movie in reverse, you would see a concentric set of rings driving to the center and then expelling a droplet. I made sure that when we photographed this series that we started with a nice smooth surface just to eliminate concerns about a movie in reverse.

[lacanau]

looks a lot like a drop of water played in reverse

[magonirico]

Yes, it is a very very very big FAKE!

[janolanjdo]

GREAT solution for tiny volumes!