What is Microfluidics?
Microfluidics is the technology of designing and manufacturing devices which can channel very small fluid flows, in the microliter/nanoliter range. A microliter and a nanometer are a millionth and a billionth of a liter, respectively. For reference, a drop of water is about 25 microliters. Various interesting properties emerge when dealing with such small quantities of fluid. Properties such as surface tension, which tend not to matter when dealing with water volumes we’re used to, begin to dominate the dynamics at these scales. The Reynolds number, which determines the turbulence of flow, is extremely low at small scales, meaning that the fluid flow pretty much stays laminar. This makes some aspects of microfluidics more convenient and predictable, and others a bit more challenging. For example, you cannot rely on turbulence to mix together two flows, but must rely on diffusion alone, like the cellular machinery in the body. Systems using microfluidics must be manufactured very precis
Microfluidics is the science of fluid flows at the microscopic scale. Microfluidics mainly deals with artificial systems, but is present in numerous natural systems: • Trees: ascent of sap in xylem conduits in the trunk (conduit diameter around 30 micrometers), and in leaves (diameter around 50 nanometers). • Inside us: capillary blood vessels transport liquid (diameter 8 micrometer), lungs pump air in small alveola.
