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Glite Dictionary
ultracentrifugation

ultracentrifugation

1 9.9
A process that separates tiny parts like proteins or viruses by spinning samples very fast in a machine
  • noun
  • /ˌʌltrəˌsɛntrɪfjuˈɡeɪʃən/
  • Specialized
: ultracentrifugación
  • After ultracentrifugation of the medium at 100,000 g, the supernatants showed no clotting activity, but the pellet had twice the activity of the untreated culture medium (data not shown).

Examples

  • Researchers used ultracentrifugation to separate the virus particles from the other components in the sample.

  • The team applied ultracentrifugation to isolate high-density lipoproteins from the blood plasma.

  • During the experiment, ultracentrifugation allowed for the effective separation of cell organelles based on their density.

Synonyms

centrifugation
vsultracentrifugation
  • Specialized
1 7.7

A way of separating heavier and lighter parts of a liquid by spinning it fast

is performed at far higher speeds than the general spinning process

How Fast

ultracentrifugation
  • Specialized
1 9.9
centrifugation
  • Specialized
1 7.7
settling
2 4.3

Surface Forms

ultracentrifugation singular
ultracentrifugations plural

Morphology

ultracentrifugation = ultracentrifuge (semi-transparent) = ultra + centrifuge + ation

The word is formed from the technical base 'ultracentrifuge' plus '-ation', but the specialized scientific sense is not fully predictable for many learners.

Etymology

Ultracentrifugation comes from ultra- meaning 'beyond' and centrifuge, a machine that spins and pushes things away from the center, which means 'middle'. So ultracentrifugation is the process of spinning at very high speeds to separate tiny parts by how heavy or light they are.