Should I purchase a standard or a refrigerated centrifuge for my A.P. Biology Class?

Question

Is automatic cooling really that important?

Answer 1

Standard...in all likelihood, the students will treat the centrifuge with little care....a refrigerated one would be a waste of money since you can always put your samples in an ice bath to get them to your desired temp.

Answer 2

It depends on what kind of centrifuging you are going to be doing.  For instance if you are planning on doing some DNA/RNA extractions, then there are quite a few protocols that require centrifuging at 4 degrees celsius.  However say you have access to a larger fridge that can be set to the temperature you want, then you can set the centrifuge inside the fridge and that will work just as well (this is how we do it in my lab).  So in all reality you don't have to have one.  I would say the only reason to get one is if you need to change the temperature while centrifuging, then you may want one.  Hope this helps.