Advanced controls

Relatively accurate measurement of liquid volumes: cylinders

A graduated cylinder helps measure the required liquid volume rapidly and relatively accurately and behaves similarly to its real-life counterpart. A brief note for your information:  in this context, a meniscus is a curve at the liquid surface close to the sides of the container. To perform measurements, perform the following steps:

• Take a cylinder and bring it close to your face so that the relevant graduation mark is at eye level.
• Slowly pour the liquid into the cylinder until the bottom of the meniscus touches the mark. 
• At this point, the volume of liquid in the cylinder is close to that indicated at the mark.

Accurate measurement of liquid volumes: the digital pipette (pipettor)

A digital pipettor is designed for accurate liquid transfer. To use it, bring the controller to it until it is highlighted and press the trigger. From now on the pipettor will remain in your hand until you press Grip, so you don't have to keep the trigger pressed.

Setting the Volume

• Use the trackpad or thumbstick for precise volume control
  • Increase volume: Touch upper trackpad or push thumbstick up (0.1 mL increments)
  • Decrease volume: Touch lower trackpad or push thumbstick down (0.1 mL increments)
• Maximum volume capacity: 99.9 mL
• Current volume setting appears on display next to gear symbol (⚙️)

Liquid Collection

1. After setting desired volume, insert pipettor into container
   • Active container mouth will be highlighted to indicate interaction possibility
2. Press trigger to collect liquid
   • If sufficient liquid is available: Pipettor collects exact set volume
   • If insufficient liquid is available: Pipettor collects all available liquid
3. Collection volume appears at bottom of display next to "drop" symbol

Discharge

• Press trigger a second time to discharge all collected liquid

ATTENTION! If the pipettor is not inserted in a container, the liquid will still be discharged to be irretrievably lost. Be careful! Keep in mind that the set volume can be measured when the pipettor is full, but distributing the collected volume across multiple containers generates an increasingly significant error.

Transferring multiple small portions: the transfuser

The laboratory is equipped with a transfuser, a special device for transferring multiple small portions of substances. 

The source container is placed on the left-hand side of the device, and the receiving container is on the right-hand side. Set transfer speed and volume using the interface, press the Transfuse button and wait for the transfer to finish. You can then either repeat the transfer using the same containers or replace one or both of them. See “Tools and Instruments” for further details.

Transferring specific quantities of powders

Use spoons for transferring relatively accurate amounts of substances. Scooping always fills the spoon to its full capacity.

A filled spoon can be emptied in two ways:

1. By flipping the spoon over a container, which will transfer the entire spoon contents to the container.

2. By gradually tilting a spoon over a container, which will release the contents at a rate of approximately one-tenth of the spoon's capacity per second. 

As spoons are available in sizes of 1, 3 and 10 grams, it is possible to transfer substances with an accuracy of 0.1 grams. When a spoon is brought close to a container, the mouth of the container will be highlighted to indicate that the transfer can start. Use lab scales to increase accuracy of measurement.