Septum
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- "Septa" redirects here. For the transit agency, see Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. For other uses of the word "septum", see Septum (disambiguation).
A septum, in Latin meaning "something that encloses", is a partition separating two cavities or two spaces containing a less dense material, such as the septum nasi between the nostrils or the septa separating each siphuncle, or chamber, in the shells of nautiloids, ammonites, and belemnites—all cephalopods that retained their external shell.
[edit] Histology
Histological septa are seen throughout most tissues of the body, particularly where they are needed to stiffen a soft cellular tissue, and they also provide planes of ingress for small blood vessels. Because the dense collagen fibres of a septum usually extend out into the softer adjacent tissues, microscopic fibrous septa are less clearly defined than the macroscopic types of septa listed above. In rare instances, a septum is a cross-wall.
[edit] Chemistry
In chemistry and other experimental sciences, septa are rubber stoppers which are used to seal flasks or bottles. They are designed to be pierced by a needle or cannula which allows fluids to be transferred. Septa are often used together with Schlenk flasks and Schlenk lines to handle oxygen- or moisture-sensitive materials.
[edit] Particle accelerators
Septum magneta and electrostatic septum are two types of septa that can deflect an ejected beam while not affecting the orbiting beam. These devices are used with a circular particle beam accelerator to inject or eject a beam of particles to or from an accelerator.
