subject: Why Pure Water Gives Clear Results In The Laboratory [print this page] The use of pure water in the lab is important, not just for the experiments but also for the lab equipment. Experiments that depend on accuracy need to be free of contaminants andimpurities of tap water.These contaminants, may be quite small but even something as small as one part per trillion has the potential to influence the results in a research experiment.
Some tap water contains heavy metals and organic material that dissolved in it. When you're working on specific types of lab tests and experiments, such as HPLC, the need for ultra pure water, free from any impurities is important. If the impurity is the same as the element tested, it is far more disastrous to the success of the project.
There are professional organizations that help set lab water standards. One example is the American Chemical Society. They label the water in four ways. First is the water for special purpose, next there are three other types of water: I, II and III. Each level has different standards of purity with Type I being the most pure, ultra pure water.
Water filters or purification decontaminates water in a number of different ways. There are coarse filtration systems, those that use reverse osmosis, activated carbon filtration systems, deionization, microporous filtration, organic adsorption, ultrafiltration, distillation, and ultraviolet oxidation. Some systems use several of these methods to make certain that the water is ultra pure.
The way you use your water will dictate the type of system for your laboratory. For instance, if your lab requires water free from bacteria, you'll need to use a purifying system that uses ultrafiltration of microporous filtration.Other types of uses require that you have purification systems that fit your individual laboratory needs.
When you use water to prepare tissue cultures buffers or the media for tissue culture, you have special needs. The water needs to be sterile and anything that would induce a fever or cause damage to the culture. Toxins that interfere with the growth of the cells throw off the results of the experiments. In this case, a water purification system for those applications in the lab has special requirements.
A lab water purification system is necessary for the maintenance and proper use of several pieces of lab equipment and the results of experiments. The use of pure water when cleaning the equipment helps to guarantee their future functioning. Build up of deposits in less than pure water not only affects the outcome of experiments, it also affects the precise functioning of equipment.
When you choose a purification system for your lab, you need to identify the type of pure water you require and the number of liters of pure water necessary per hour. Labs that require large volumes of pure water will need a different type of purification system than a lab that only uses a small amount of that same type of water.
