Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello there, I am going to make a gel electrophoresis chamber for my science fair project and I need a urgent help regarding the the size of the box I should use as the chamber where the gel is going to be placed, your video shows a travel soap box which I unfortunately do not have one so a box which is 11.5cm in length and 9.2cm in width (approx values not exact). To run 1% of agarose gel this size of box would be fine ? It would be great if you could answer my question as soon as possible because I'm going to do the experiment within few hours. I'll be looking forward for an answer.
Thank you.

Hi,

I'm sorry we were not able to answer immediately, however, I hope you were able to proceed with your project. A box that is 9 or 11 cm long would work for an electrophoresis apparatus. The longer length of the gel bed would require longer for the gel to run, would require extra material but would give more distance between bands, so might work better for a separation.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Donna