Pipetting Viscous Solutions

Pipetting Viscous Solutions

To master pipetting, we need to understand that viscosity is the measure of a liquid’s resistance to flow. This can easily be seen by observing how quickly or slowly the liquid flows when aspirating and dispensing. Pure water, and many aqueous buffers are low viscosity and flow easily. Glycerol, honey, and polyethylene glycol are highly viscous and flow very slowly. Master mix also has properties that make is more viscous when pipetting. There are additional properties such as vapor pressure, surface tension and contact angle that impact pipetting as well. The Pipetting Viscous Solutions poster provides guidance on pipetting these solutions.