What effect does Humidity have on experiments?

Answer

A dry environment will cause more evaporation both into the dead air volume of the tip, and in the tubes or wells. An environment with increased air flow will also increase evaporation, especially in low volumes or with volatile substances. This includes laminar flow hoods and any strong air conditioning or ventilation.

Overall a hot dry lab located high above sea level will perform differently to a pipette calibration lab which is optimised for best accuracy. A pipette calibration lab will regulate it's environment to be 20 °C and a humidity greater than 50%, all to minimise evaporation and optimise pipette accuracy. This is why a workflow or a liquid class designed in one lab cannot be guaranteed to work in a different lab.

However a workflow can be optimised to be accurate:

• By making adjustments to the liquid class settings.
• Correcting the target volumes by the degree of error.
• Using pre-wet steps to increase the dead air humidity and reduce the evaporation at the actual transfer.

This is why it is useful to note the temperature and humidity of the lab in which the workflow/liquid class was optimised. You may find these other articles on how lab air pressure and temperature affect your pipetting useful:

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