Water Bath – A prerequisite for any laboratory

All laboratories dealing with experimental analysis incorporate a particular system which is termed a water bath. A water bath has emerged as a very common and basic analog tool. This instrument comprises a container that is filled with hot water. Samples used in a wide range of experiments are ideally incubated in a water bath for an extended period with the virtue of a steady temperature. Water baths can implement heating of reagents prior to experiments, contribute to cell culture incubation and encourage chemical reactions to take place at elevated temperatures. The temperature can be set according to the preferred standard temperature of a specific experiment. It can be raised up to 99.9 degrees Celsius. Also, elevating the temperature for half an hour of a water bath above 90 degrees once a week can support decontamination.

Water bath has certain interesting features which have improved their popularity in recent times. For example, it has resettable limit values that could easily be accessed by users and alarms that could be set as reminders of the process completion. Its digital controller of temperature ensures uniformity in temperature as well as encourages utmost temperature accuracy.

 

Types of water bath

With regards to the variety of applications of the water bath, it can be classified into three basic categories. These differences in categories are ideally to facilitate different functions based on what exactly the water bath is being used for. Listed below are the rundown of three different categories of the water bath and their respective functionalities.

1. Shaking water bath
2. Circulating water bath
3. Non–circulating water bath

 

Shaking water bath

Sometimes cell cultures are liquid grown thus, they need shaking so as to ensure constant mixing with the air. For such reasons, a shaking water bath is used. This form of water bath allows for more precise shaking of liquids while undergoing any laboratory analysis. Such constant shaking via a water bath helps liquids to mix uniformly. This shaking water bath is user-friendly and can be turned on and off as per convenience and utilization. A Keypad helps it in being user-friendly accounting for convenience in its usage. Shaking frequencies are adjustable accordingly, in a shaking water bath and have cut-off protection installed for different temperature ranges. 

 

 

Circulating water bath 

Circulating water baths are also cited as stirrers. Experiments involving enzymatic studies as well as serologic studies essentially require the temperature flow to be extremely uniform. Thus the most ideal water bath which could perfectly contribute to and add up to the homogeneity and constancy of temperature is a circulating water bath. The meticulous pumping of water throughout the bath makes sure that the consistency of temperature is maintained with utmost precision.

 

 

Non-circulating water bath

Instead of consistently heated water, this sort of water bath relies heavily on convection. The heating of the liquid in this technique does not incorporate circulation of the same inside the bath. This does not add up to the management of temperature with the accuracy that the other water baths provide. Thus, non-circulating water baths are less precise when it comes to temperature management. For such reasons, this water bath is restricted for experiments, reactions, and applications that require very high precision.

 

 

 Know about the working principle of a water bath

The sensor that is present in the water bath system converts water temperature to a resistance value. This value is then augmented and compared by an integrated amplifier. As an output, a control signal is produced that effectively controls the average heating power of the electric heating tube. As the result of such processes going on, the water attains a constant temperature which is then maintained.

The water bath system is an incredible system that is ideal for heating samples at a balanced or elevated temperature.

 

References:

1. “What Is a Water Bath? – Lab Instruments – Henan Lanphan Technology Co. Ltd.” What Is a Water Bath? – Lab Instruments – Henan Lanphan Technology Co. Ltd.
2. “Laboratory Water Bath – Wikipedia.” Laboratory Water Bath – Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org, 1 Feb. 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laboratory_water_bath.
3. “Water Bath Uses Working Principal Maintenance Safety Precautions Types & Uses.” Labkafe | Lab Equipment | Lab Furniture | STEM Kits | Registered OEM on GeM