This hands-on activity covers the production of aerosols and factors affecting aerosol production.
Pipets are one of the the basic tools of school and research laborotories.
They are used for volumetric measurement of fluids and for transfer of these fluids from one container to another. The fluids that are handled can be hazardous in nature, containing infectious, toxic, corrosive, volatile or radioactive agents. Aerosols, the most common hazard associated with pipeting, are created when liquid drops from a pipet to a work surface, when cultures are mixed by alternate suction and expulsion, when an inoculum is forcefully ejected onto a culture dish or when the last drop is blown out. It has been demonstrated by high-speed photography that an aerosol of approximately 15,000 droplets, most under ten micrometers in diameter, is produced when the last drop of fluid in the tip of a pipet is blown out with moderate force. Objectives Students will be able to demonstrate how aerosols are created.