- An apparatus in which environmental conditions, such as temperature and humidity, can be controlled, often used for growing bacterial cultures, hatching eggs artificially, or providing suitable conditions for a chemical or biological reaction.
- Medicine. An apparatus for maintaining an infant, especially a premature infant, in an environment of controlled temperature, humidity, and oxygen concentration.
- A place or situation that permits or encourages the formation and development, as of new ideas: a college that was an incubator of new approaches to sociology.
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Computer Desktop Encyclopedia:
incubator
An organization that fosters the growth of new ideas or companies. An incubator generally acquires small companies and provides them with financing, management expertise, office services and possibly office space. Incubators may adopt a think tank approach and look for synergies between the ideas, products and technologies they are developing in order to grow faster. Many Internet incubators arose in the latter 1990s with the intention of creating more dot-com success stories.
Dental Dictionary:
incubator
(in'kyōōbātur)
n
A laboratory container with controlled temperature for the cultivation of bacteria.
Columbia Encyclopedia:
incubator,
apparatus for the maintenance of controlled conditions in which eggs can be hatched artificially. Incubator houses with double walls of mud, a fireroom, and several compartments each holding about 6,000 hens' eggs were developed in ancient times; the Chinese have long used baskets with a capacity of about 5,000 eggs that are alternated with layers of heated wheat. In the United States small incubators were developed in the 1840s and large ones have been used since 1910; some commercial models have trays for as many as one million eggs. The modern apparatus, with computer-controlled temperature and humidity and devices for turning the eggs, is widely used in commercial chick production. Eggs are selected for size, weight, and shell texture and often are candled after a week in the incubator in order to remove infertile eggs. The small-scale apparatus for hatching eggs inspired the invention of incubators for prematurely born human infants, whose lives are often saved in an environment of controlled heat, humidity, and ventilation. Another type of incubator has been developed for the culture of microorganisms.
Bibliography
See R. E. Austic and M. C. Nesheim, Poultry Production (13th ed. 1990); M. North, Commercial Chicken Production (1990).
Health Dictionary:
incubator
A specialized crib used in caring for infants, in which the temperature and oxygen content of the air can be controlled. Often, babies who are born prematurely will be placed in an incubator until they have become strong enough to be housed in a regular crib.
Veterinary Dictionary:
incubator
An apparatus for maintaining optimal conditions (temperature, humidity, etc.) for growth and development, especially one used for cultures, and for hatching eggs.
Word Tutor:
incubator
IN BRIEF: A container that is kept warm for hatching eggs; a container to keep babies who are born too soon warm and protected.
In the incubator, the eggs hatched into cute ducklings.
In microbiology, an incubator is a device for controlling the temperature, humidity, and other conditions in which a microbiological culture is being grown. The simplest incubators are insulated boxes with an adjustable heater, typically going up to 60 to 65 °C (140 to 150 °F), though some can go slightly higher (generally to no more than 100 °C). More elaborate incubators can also include the ability to lower the temperature (via refrigeration), or the ability to control humidity or CO2 levels.
Most incubators include a timer; some can also be programmed to cycle through different temperatures, humidity levels, etc. Incubators can vary in size from tabletop to units the size of small rooms.
Incubators also contain certain features such as the shake speed, measured by revolutions per minute. As for temperature, most commonly used is approximately 36 to 37 degrees Celsius. Most bacteria, especially the frequently used E. Coli, grow well under such conditions. For other experimental organisms, such as the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a growth temperature of 30 °C is optimal.
In field conditions if no such incubator is available, and particularly in remote or less-developed areas, some people keep samples at close to body temperature by inserting the samples into their socks.[citation needed] The phase-change incubator is intended as a more reliable and consistent way of performing this task simply and affordably.
| Laboratory Equipment | |
|---|---|
| Equipment | Agar plate • Aspirator • Autoclave • Bunsen burner • Calorimeter • Colony counter • Colorimeter • Laboratory centrifuge • Fume hood • Glove box • Incubator • Homogenizer • Laminar flow cabinet • Magnetic stirrer • Microscope • Microtiter plate • Plate reader • Spectrophotometer • Stir bar • Thermometer • Vortex mixer • Static mixer |
| Glassware | Beaker • Boiling tube • Büchner funnel • Burette • Cold finger • Condenser • Conical measure • Crucible • Cuvette • Laboratory flasks (Erlenmeyer flask, Round-bottom flask, Florence flask, Volumetric flask, Büchner flask, Retort) • Gas syringe • Graduated cylinder • Glass tube • NMR tube • Pipette • Petri dish • Pycnometer •Separating funnel • Soxhlet extractor • Test tube • Thistle tube • Watch glass |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Translations:
Translations for:
Incubator
Dansk (Danish)
n. - kuvøse, rugemaskine, udklækningsmaskine, varmeskab
Nederlands (Dutch)
couveuse, kweekkamer, broedmachine, incubator
Français (French)
n. - couveuse, incubateur
Deutsch (German)
n. - Brutkasten, Inkubator, Brutapparat
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - εκκολαπτήριο, εκκολαπτική μηχανή, κλωσομηχανή
Italiano (Italian)
incubatrice
Português (Portuguese)
n. - incubadora (f)
Español (Spanish)
n. - incubadora
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - äggkläckningsmaskin, kuvös, apparat för odling av bakterier
中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
孵卵器, 早产儿保育器, 细菌培养器
中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 孵卵器, 早產兒保育器, 細菌培養器
한국어 (Korean)
n. - 부화기, 세균 배양기, 조산아 보육기
日本語 (Japanese)
n. - ふ卵器, 保育器, 未熟児保育器
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) طير حاضن, جهاز حضانه
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Copyrights:
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. THIS COPYRIGHTED DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher. © 1981-2008 Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Dental Dictionary. Mosby's Dental Dictionary. Copyright © 2004 by Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more |
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| Health Dictionary. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Veterinary Dictionary. Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary 3rd Edition. Copyright © 2007 by D.C. Blood, V.P. Studdert and C.C. Gay, Elsevier. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Word Tutor. Copyright © 2004-present by eSpindle Learning, a 501(c) nonprofit organization. All rights reserved. eSpindle provides personalized spelling and vocabulary tutoring online; free trial. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Incubator (microbiology)". Read more |
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| Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved. Read more |
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