why buffer is used instead of water when making and running gels?
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Water doesn't conduct the current needed to run a gel.
A gel in water won't run. It's that simple. (as a corollary, if the buffer's been sitting a while and evaporates such that the ionic concentration increases, too much current flows and you risk boiling it, which melts an agarose gel and destroys an acrylamide one).
DNA or protein can be suspended in water, there's no reason why not (though breakdown can be an issue; EDTA in DNA running buffer inhibits nucleases) but you need conductivity to run a gel.
A gel in water won't run. It's that simple. (as a corollary, if the buffer's been sitting a while and evaporates such that the ionic concentration increases, too much current flows and you risk boiling it, which melts an agarose gel and destroys an acrylamide one).
DNA or protein can be suspended in water, there's no reason why not (though breakdown can be an issue; EDTA in DNA running buffer inhibits nucleases) but you need conductivity to run a gel.
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