The first incubators were used in ancient China and Egypt, where they consisted of fire-heated rooms in which fertilized chicken eggs were placed to hatch, thereby freeing the hens to continue laying eggs. Later, wood stoves and alcohol lamps were used to heat incubators. Today, poultry incubators are large rooms, electrically heated to maintain temperatures between 99.5 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.5 and 37.8 degrees Celsius). Fans are used to circulate the heated air evenly over the eggs, and the room’s humidity is set at about 60 percent to minimize the evaporation of water from the eggs. In addition, outside air is pumped into the incubator to maintain a constant oxygen level of 21 percent, which is normal for fresh air. As many as 100,000 eggs may be nurtured in a large commercial incubator at one time, and all are rotated a minimum of 8 times a day throughout the 21-day incubation period.
Laboratory incubator were first utilized during the twentieth century, when doctors realized that they could be could be used to identify pathogens (disease-causing bacteria) in patients’ bodily fluids and thus diagnose their disorders more accurately. After a sample has been obtained, it is transferred to a Petri dish, flask, or some other sterile container and placed in a rack inside the incubator. To promote pathogenic growth, the air inside the chamber is humidified and heated to body temperature (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit or 37 degrees Celsius). In addition, these incubators provide the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide or nitrogen necessary for the cell’s growth. As this carefully conditioned air circulates around it, the microorganism multiplies, enabling easier and more certain identification.
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