What is the Difference Between Centrifugation and Ultracentrifugation

The key difference between centrifugation and ultracentrifugation is that centrifugation uses a low speed for the separation process, whereas ultracentrifugation uses a high speed for the separation process.

We can use speed to separate components in an analyte mixture. Centrifugation and ultracentrifugation are two common speed-involved separation techniques. Centrifugation is a technique of separating different components in an analyte mixture, while ultracentrifugation is a technique that involves separating an analyte mixture based on the centrifugal force that is created by very rapid rotation.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Centrifugation 
3. What is Ultracentrifugation
4. Centrifugation vs Ultracentrifugation in Tabular Form
5.  Summary – Centrifugation vs Ultracentrifugation

What is Centrifugation?

Centrifugation is a technique of separation of different components in an analyte mixture. This method involves the rotation of the sample around a fixed axis, which causes the production of a centrifugal force. The centrifugal force causes the particles in the sample to move down through a liquid medium. This process causes the sedimentation of particles or cells with different sizes and densities at different rates. There are two major types of centrifugation: differential centrifugation and density gradient centrifugation.

Differential centrifugation is an analytical technique in which we can separate the particles in a mixture depending on the size of the particle. It is the simplest form of centrifugation, and we also call it differential pelleting. This method is important in separating the components in a cell. Particles having different sizes undergo sedimentation at different rates upon centrifugation. In other words, large particles sediment faster than smaller particles. Moreover, the sedimentation rate can be increased by increasing the centrifugal force.

Density gradient centrifugation is an analytical technique in which we can separate the particles in the analyte mixture based on the density of the particle. In this method, the substances are concentrated in a solution of caesium salts or sucrose. The method involves the fractionation of particles based on buoyancy density. The density gradient in this method is Caesium salt or sucrose medium. There are two types of density gradient centrifugation: rate-zonal centrifugation and isopycnic centrifugation.

What is Ultracentrifugation?

Ultracentrifugation is a technique that involves the separation of an analyte mixture based on the centrifugal force that is created by a very rapid rotation, which is typically 50,000 rpm or more. In this technique, different components tend to settle based on their masses at different speeds.

We can use an ultracentrifuge for the ultracentrifugation technique. This machine is a centrifuge that is optimized for spinning a rotor at a very high speed, which makes it capable of generating acceleration as high as 1,000,000 g. We can find two major types of ultracentrifuges as preparative and analytical ultracentrifuge. Both these types are instruments that are important in molecular biology, biochemistry, and polymer science.

What is the Difference Between Centrifugation and Ultracentrifugation?

Centrifugation is a technique of separation of different components in an analyte mixture. Whereas, ultracentrifugation is a technique that involves the separation of an analyte mixture based on the centrifugal force that is created by very rapid rotation. The key difference between centrifugation and ultracentrifugation is that centrifugation uses a low speed for the separation process, whereas ultracentrifugation uses a high speed for the separation process.

The below infographic presents the differences between centrifugation and ultracentrifugation in tabular form for side by side comparison.

Summary – Centrifugation vs Ultracentrifugation

We can use speed to separate components in an analyte mixture. The two common speed-involved separation techniques are centrifugation and ultracentrifugation. The key difference between centrifugation and ultracentrifugation is that centrifugation uses a low speed for the separation process, whereas ultracentrifugation uses a high speed for the separation process.

Reference:

1. Mendes, Adélia. “Ultracentrifugation Basics and Applications.” Conduct Science, 22 Jan. 2022.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Tabletop centrifuge” By Magnus Manske – Own work (CC BY 1.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Beckman-Coulter ultracentrifuge XL-100K -01” ByMatylda Sękpl.wiki: Cygaretkacommons: Cygaretka – Own work (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia