In their experiment to prove DNA replication is semi-conservative, Meselson and Stahl used 6M CsCl because the density gradient value of 6M CsCl is ________ the density gradient value of ¹⁵ N DNA.

Step-by-step solution

Meselson and Stahl used heavy isotope ¹⁵ N to label DNA and separated the heavy DNA from normal DNA using Cesium Chloride ( CsCl ) density gradient centrifugation. The density of 6M CsCl is approximately 1.7 g/cm ^3 , which is almost equal to the buoyant density of DNA. During centrifugation, a density gradient is established, and DNA molecules move to the position in the gradient where the density of the CsCl solution exactly matches their own density. Therefore, 6M CsCl was chosen because its density gradient val