
A Coulter counter is an apparatus for counting and sizing particles suspended in electrolytes. The Coulter principle, and the Coulter counter that is based on it, is the commercial term for the technique known as resistive pulse sensing or electrical zone sensing.
What is a COULTER COUNTER?
The tip of the Coulter counter in a buffer solution, counting cells in solution. A Coulter counter is an apparatus for counting and sizing particles suspended in electrolytes. The Coulter principle, and the Coulter counter that is based on it, is the commercial term for the technique known as resistive pulse sensing or electrical zone sensing.
What are the applications of the Coulter Principle?
The most successful and important application of the Coulter principle is in the characterization of human blood cells. The technique has been used to diagnose a variety of diseases, and is the standard method for obtaining red blood cell counts (RBCs) and white blood cell counts (WBCs) as well as several other common parameters.
What is a Coulter on a plow?
A coulter or colter (Latin 'culter' = 'knife') is a vertically mounted component of many plows that cuts an edge about 7 inches (18 cm) deep ahead of a plowshare. Its most effective depth is determined by soil conditions. Its earliest design consisted of a knife-like blade. Coulters with a flat rotating disc began being used c. 1900.
What are the disadvantages of the Coulter method?
The only disadvantage of the Coulter method is not being able to determine the viability of the cell, but this didn’t matter for other industries to analyze particles like pigments, clays, minerals, and other materials. Did you ever use a Coulter instrument or its advanced variations?

What is the purpose of coulter?
Coulter developed a technology for counting and sizing particles using impedance measurements. The technology was principally developed to count blood cells quickly by measuring the changes in electrical conductance as cells suspended in a conductive fluid passed through a small orifice.
Do you need coulter on a plow?
if you are in a plowing match then you'll need coulters,if you are discing your stalks or chopping them don't worry about it. if it ever rains again and gets muddy again you'll probably ditch the coulters anyway.
What is a plough coulter?
A coulter is a vertical soil slicer mounted like a knife to cut through the soil ahead of a plough share to improve the plough's efficiency. The coulter, one of the defining features of a 'heavy plough', transformed the landscape of England.
How does a plowshare work?
The plowshare itself is often a hardened blade dressed into an integral moldboard (by the blacksmith) so making a unified combination of plowshare and moldboard, the whole being responsible for entering the cleft in the earth (made by the coulter's first cutting-through) and turning the earth over.
How deep should you plow a field?
Merrill further concluded that "on deep heavy soil, plowing to a depth of 10 inches will insure as good and possibly better results than plowing to a greater depth but that on lighter soils an occasional plowing to a depth of 15 to 18 inches is advisable."
What is the best way to plow a field?
Plow your first furrow down the center of your garden area. Raise the plow, turn around, and put the right rear tractor tire in that furrow. Then adjust the lift arm to bring the plow to level again. Proceed to dig this next furrow with the tractor tire in the first furrow.
What is a use of a coulter in Iron Age?
Its function was to make a vertical cut in advance of the plough-share, which then undercut the furrow made by the coulter. This made it easier to cultivate heavy soils. Roman… coulters were therefore stout knife-like iron blades with a heavy shaft by which they were secured to the plough's wooden beam.
What is the skimmer on a plough?
Skimmers are one of the most critical parts of a plough. They should scrape all surface residue and place it in the bottom of the open furrow. If the skimmer is too shallow, surface residue may be left on the surface.
What is jointer in agriculture?
a tool or machine used in making joints. 3. Agriculture. a device with a triangular head, used with a plow to bury trash.
What is a plowshare in the Bible?
— Isaiah 2:3–4. The ploughshare (Hebrew: אֵת 'êṯ, also translated coulter) is often used to symbolize creative tools that benefit humankind, as opposed to destructive tools of war, symbolized by the sword (Hebrew: חֶרֶב ḥereḇ), a similar sharp metal tool with an arguably opposite use.
Why is it called a ploughshare?
There are many types of plows, including mechanical plows, riding plows, and handheld blows, but the blade of all of them can be called a plowshare. This word is part of a famous proverb about "beating swords into plowshares," which means to move from war to peace. Plowshare is often spelled ploughshare.
What is a Mould board?
Mould Board Plough The shape of Mould Board is designed to cut down the soil and invert it to right side completely burying the undesired growth which subsequently turned into manure after decomposition.
What is a coulter counter?
The Coulter counter is a vital constituent of today's hospital laboratory. Its primary function is the quick and accurate analysis of complete blood counts (often referred to as CBC). The CBC is used to determine the number or proportion of white and red blood cells in the body.
Why is the Coulter principle useful?
Particle characterization. The Coulter principle has proved useful for applications well beyond cellular studies . The fact that it individually measures particles, is independent of any optical properties, is extremely sensitive, and is very reproducible has appeal to a wide variety of fields.
What is the Coulter principle?
The Coulter principle states that particles pulled through an orifice, concurrent with an electric current, produce a change in impedance that is proportional to the volume of the particle traversing the orifice. This pulse in impedance originates from the displacement of electrolyte caused by the particle.
What is the role of a coulter counter in flow cytometry?
A Coulter counter played an important role in the development of the first ever cell sorter, and was involved in the early days of the development of flow cytometry. Even today, some flow cytometers utilize the Coulter principle to provide highly accurate information about cell size and count.
What is the most successful application of the Coulter principle?
To date, the most commercially successful application of the Coulter principle is in hematology, where it is used to obtain information about patients' blood cells. The Coulter principle relies on the fact that particles moving in an electric field cause measurable disturbances in that field.
Who invented the Coulter counter?
The Coulter counter as invented by Wallace Coulter applies a direct current (DC) in order to count particles (cells), and produces electrical pulses of amplitude dependent on the size of cells.
Who discovered the Coulter principle?
Wallace H. Coulter discovered the Coulter principle in the late 1940s, though a patent was not awarded until October 20, 1953. Coulter was influenced by the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
What is the Coulter counter?
The Coulter counter uses the principle that the electrical resistance of a conducting liquid is increased by the addition of an insulating material. Particles are assessed individually. To obtain adequate sensitivity, the volume of liquid measured must be similar to the volume of the particle.
How does a coulter counter work?
The principle of the Coulter counter is based on letting cells in suspension pass a narrow orifice. If a cell has different electrical properties than the liquid, the impedance of the pore will change at each cell passage. Cell counting is possible, and it is also possible to have information about each cells size, form, or electrical properties. Figure 10.27 shows the basic setup of the two-electrode conductance measuring cell. Typical dimensions (diameter, length) for a capillary is 50 and 60 μm (erythrocytes); 100 and 75 μm (leukocytes).
What is the principle of a coulter counter?
Principle of the Coulter Counter. The particles, suspended in a known volume of electrically conductive liquid, flow through a small aperture having an immersed electrode on either side; the particle concentration is such that the particles traverse the aperture substantially one at a time.
What is the advantage of the Coulter principle?
The advantage of the Coulter principle is that it can be used to measure both mass and particle counting distribution of particle size, and in addition as a volume diameter is one typical size representation, this agrees closely with most sedimentation analysis.
What is the Coulter principle?
The Coulter principle is used for particles in liquids only. The Coulter principle consists of passing the suspended particles once through the orifice in the electric field of known characteristics; in the issue the momentary changes in impedance give rise to voltage pulses, the heights of which are proportional to volume (consequently, ...
Why is the Coulter method used?
The Coulter method is widely used not only in medical and research labs, but also in many other industries because of the following advantages: Independent of optical and chemical properties of the particle. Does not require colorimetric or fluorescence. Can be used for any particle that can displace liquid.
What is a coulter counter?
The Coulter counter is based on sophisticated technology using voltage and electricity to determine the cell count. Before World War II, medical technologists spent many hours counting red blood cells using the hemocytometer (commonly known as a counting chamber), but this method resulted in poor accuracy and repeatability.
What is the difference between a hemocytometer and a coulter counter?
Before we dive in deep, we need to know that a hemocytometer and a Coulter counter are completely different. Also known as a counting chamber, cell counting with hemocytometer is manually done under a microscope. The Coulter counter is based on sophisticated technology using voltage and electricity to determine the cell count.
What is the function of a coulter counter?
A Coulter Counter is able to count the erythrocytes (red blood cells), leukocytes (white blood cells), and platelets.
What is the Coulter counter called?
The early version of the Coulter Counter was called Model A. Their company grew as they developed new modifications. The later innovations incorporated developments in technology. For example, an early transistorized version was called the Model F. The company Beckman eventually acquired Coulter Electronics in 1997 after it had already grown in ...
What industries does Beckman Coulter use?
Beckman Coulter continues to innovate in the field with its own instruments. The technology has expanded its use from medical to other industries as well such as food manufacturing, ceramics, and molten metal.
What is the Coulter Principle?
They were the individuals behind the Coulter Principle which defined how particles passing through a small hole at the same time as an electric current will have an impact on the reading based on their volume and the resulting measurable resistance in the electrolyte.
When was the first Coulter counter invented?
They built their first version including a metering system, pulse counter, oscilloscope, and mercury manometer in 1952 and had this evaluated by the National Institutes of Health.
When did Beckman acquire Coulter?
The company Beckman eventually acquired Coulter Electronics in 1997 after it had already grown in size to thousands of employees. Researchers from other organizations continue to make improvements to the Coulter Counter process. Some innovations have tried to increase the efficiency of systems. For example, Jun Hu and Jiang Zhe at the University ...
Who invented the multichannel counting device?
For example, Jun Hu and Jiang Zhe at the University of Akron have published a patent on a multichannel counting device. Other companies are also involved in producing and refining their own versions of the Coulter Counters for sale such as Thermo Fisher.
What is a coulter?
Noun. 1. coulter- a sharp steel wedge that precedes the plow and cuts vertically through the soil. colter. moldboard plow, mouldboard plough- plow that has a moldboard. wedge- something solid that is usable as an inclined plane (shaped like a V) that can be pushed between two things to separate them.
What is a culter blade?
A blade or wheel attached to the beam of a plow that makes vertical cuts in the soil in advance of the plowshare. [Middle English culter, from Old English culterand Old French coltre, both from Latin culter, knife, plowshare; see skel-in Indo-European roots.] American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.
Joint and bone lesions in hemoglobinopathies
A complete blood count and reticulocyte count should be obtained with every painful crisis because of possible associated aplastic crisis. Aplastic crisis can be caused by concomitant parvovirus infection.
Hematopoietic Pathology
Two major types of nutritional anemia occur. Iron deficiency anemia is a common disease that usually results from a combination of increased blood loss and inadequate iron stores. Iron deficiency anemia occurs in many types of chronic disease and often is present in menstruating women with suboptimal nutrition.
Nanoparticles in Translational Science and Medicine
Xiao-Yun Lu, ... Guo-Qiang Chen, in Progress in Molecular Biology and Translational Science, 2011
Megaloblastic Anemias
The term masked megaloblastosis is reserved for conditions in which true cobalamin or folate deficiency with anemia is not accompanied by classic findings of megaloblastosis in the peripheral blood and bone marrow.
The In Vitro Micronucleus Assay
Ann Doherty, ... Jeffrey C. Bemis, in Genetic Toxicology Testing, 2016
Toxicology Testing and Evaluation
Much of what we said about clinical chemistry parameters is also true for the hematologic measurements made in toxicology studies. The test to be performed should be evaluated by use of a decision tree until one becomes confident as to the most appropriate methods.
Safety Assessment including Current and Emerging Issues in Toxicologic Pathology
Colin G. Rousseaux, Shayne C. Gad, in Haschek and Rousseaux's Handbook of Toxicologic Pathology (Third Edition), 2013
What field uses the Coulter principle?
The Coulter principle has been used for particle counting and sizing in a variety of fields, but one of the first and most impacted fields was hematology. Labs that once took an hour to produce a blood count from a single patient using a microscope were now produced an order of magnitude faster and more consistently.
What is the Coulter principle?
Named after its discoverer, Wallace Coulter, the Coulter principle states that particles passing through an orifice (along with an electrical current) will produce an increase in impedance, due to the displacement of electrolytes caused by the presence of the particle.

Overview
A coulter or colter (Latin 'culter' = 'knife') is a vertically mounted component of many plows that cuts an edge about 7 inches (18 cm) deep ahead of a plowshare. Its most effective depth is determined by soil conditions.
Coulter principle
Development
Experimental considerations
Major applications
A Coulter counter is an apparatus for counting and sizing particles suspended in electrolytes. The Coulter principle, and the Coulter counter that is based on it, is the commercial term for the technique known as resistive pulse sensing or electrical zone sensing.
A typical Coulter counter has one or more microchannels that separate two cha…
See also
The Coulter principle states that particles pulled through an orifice, concurrent with an electric current, produce a change in impedance that is proportional to the volume of the particle traversing the orifice. This pulse in impedance originates from the displacement of electrolyte caused by the particle. The Coulter principle was named for its inventor, Wallace H. Coulter. The principle has found commercial success in the medical industry, particularly in hematology, where it can be ap…
External links
Wallace H. Coulter discovered the Coulter principle in the late 1940s, though a patent was not awarded until October 20, 1953. Coulter was influenced by the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These events motivated Coulter to simplify and improve blood cell analysis so that large populations could be screened rapidly, as would be necessary in the event of a nuclear war…
What Is Inside A Coulter Counter
Anomalous electrical pulses can be generated if the concentration of sample is so high that multiple particles enter the aperture simultaneously. This situation is known as coincidence. This occurs because there is no way to ensure that a single large pulse is the result of a single large particle or multiple small particles entering the aperture at once. To prevent this situation, samples must be fairly dilute.
How It Was Developed
The most successful and important application of the Coulter principle is in the characterization of human blood cells. The technique has been used to diagnose a variety of diseases, and is the standard method for obtaining red blood cell counts (RBCs) and white blood cell counts (WBCs) as well as several other common parameters. When combined with other technologies such as fl…
What Is The Coulter Principle?
• Hemocytometer
• Flow cytometry
• Hematology analyzer
How Does The Coulter Counter Work?
• https://web.archive.org/web/20080424022037/http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/coulter.html
• US 2656508 Means for counting particles suspended in a fluid, October 20, 1953, Wallace H. Coulter
• "Dynamically resizable nanometre-scale apertures for molecular sensing"; Stephen J. Sowerby, Murray F. Broom, George B. Petersen; Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical Volume 123, Issue 1 (2007), pages 325–330
Applications of The Coulter Method
Variations of The Coulter Principle
Conclusion
References