Certified Biomedical Equipment Technician (CBET) Practice Exam

Relative centrifugal force (RCF) is a measure of the force exerted on a sample as a result of centrifugal acceleration during centrifugation. It is primarily influenced by the radius and the speed of rotation of the centrifuge.

The radius is critical because RCF increases with the distance from the center of rotation; a larger radius means that the sample is subjected to greater centrifugal force. This relationship is highlighted in the equation for RCF, which takes into account the radius of the rotor and the speed of rotation (typically measured in RPM). As the speed of rotation increases, the centrifugal force also increases, enhancing the separation process of components in a mixture based on their density or size.

In summary, the combination of the radius of rotation and the centrifugal speed directly determines the relative centrifugal force acting on samples, making them the key considerations for understanding RCF in centrifugation.