Density gradient centrifugation

High-speed centrifugation in which molecules "float" at a point where their density equals that in a gradient of cesium chloride or sucrose. (See Centrifugation.)

High-speed centrifugation in which molecules are separated on the basis of their different densities using a concentration gradient of caesium chloride or sucrose. The density gradient may either be formed before centrifugation by mixing two solutions of different density (as in sucrose density gradients) or it can be formed by the process of centrifugation itself (as in CsCl and Cs₂SO₄ density gradients).