Explosion of a rotor in an analytical air-driven ultracentrifuge

✍ Scribed by Edward B. Sanigar; John H. Hambleton

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1947
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 489 KB
• Volume: 244
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0016-0032
• DOI: 10.1016/0016-0032(47)90240-8

✦ Synopsis

The rotor which exploded was an analytical head magnetically supported and driven by an air turbine . The design of the rotor was essentially that published by Bauer and Pickels (1), although some modifications, detailed later, had been necessary during its fabrication . It had the usual solution cell and reference (or balancing) cell, and was intended for the optical observation of protein sedimentation in centrifugal fields . THE ROTOR.

As will be seen from Fig . the rotor (N) closely resembled the standard Pickels form, but differed from it by being larger, and by having flat portions where the cell holes were situated . The increase in size of the rotor over the Pickels model was necessitated by the diameter (4 .375 in .) of the solenoid (A) used for the magnetic lift . This required, for an unobstructed passage of light through the solution cell (0), that the centers of the cells be placed 76 .2 mm . (3 .00 in .) from the axis of rotation, compared with 65 mm . (2 .56 in .) in the Pickels rotor . Comparison values for the two rotors are given below .