Sciencemadness Discussion Board

using medical ultrasound devices

chemrox - 10-11-2010 at 16:44

I acquired a medical device. According to the analog indicator it puts out a maximum of 2.0 watts at 10 total watts. It does this through a handle with a quarter size circular face. Is this going to be helpful in actuating or stimulating a reaction that could be pushed with ultrasound? Any experience with this kind of thing or parameters (for comparison) with machines made for chemistry labs will be much appreciated.

Thanks,

CRX

(Sergei?)

not_important - 10-11-2010 at 17:23

I suspect that it is both too low power, and too high of frequency for more chem lab applications. Depending on the intended use and generation/age of machine it uses sound frequencies in the range of 1 to 20 MHz, the higher the frequency the shallower the penetration. My experience with medical ultrasound is several decades old, but the physics hasn't changed.

Sonochemistry typically uses sound in the 20 to 100 KHz range, power levels of a few watts for test tubes to kilowatts depending on the size of reaction area. This best match for this is ultrasonic cleaning and sample disintegration. Sonochemistry depends on the formation of cavitation bubbles, something that would be very undesirable when imaging a patient.