Gel Electrophoresis Physics Lab Report

The picture above shows a typical gel electrophoresis set up. The clear container in the center of the picture is called a gel electrophoresis chamber. It contains the agarose gel that will be loaded with genetic material, as well as a buffer solution. It is connected to a DC power supply via electrodes. This picture was taken at Paw Print Genetics laboratory in Spokane, Washington.
Viney and Fenton (1998) defined the term electrophoresis as, “the migration of charged particles through a static medium under the action of an applied electric field (p. 576). Just from this definition, it is clear that numerous physics concepts can be used to help explain why electrophoresis works. First, I will discuss charge and electric fields and how these principles are utilized in gel electrophoresis. This will be followed by a
20.1). This is important for gel electrophoresis so the molecules being tested only “run” in one direction, as opposed to an AC power source being utilized. If the charged molecules were able to run both up and down the gel, scientists would yield inaccurate results. Ohm’s Law states that voltage (V) is equal to the amount of current (I) multiplied by a constant resistance (R) in a DC circuit to give the equation . In a gel electrophoresis set up, the gel itself acts as the resistor. Various materials have their own various resistivity values (ρ), which is an inherent property of the material and therefore remains constant as long as the material remains constant. Resistivity can be used to calculate the resistance of a material using the equation where L is the length of the material and A is the cross-sectional area of the material (Cutnell & Johnson, Ch. 20.3). The DC circuit that is created by a gel electrophoresis set up can be illustrated by a simple circuit diagram as is shown