Laboratory Beakers for Mixing, Heating, and Liquid Handling

Laboratory beakers are wide-mouth cylindrical glass or plastic vessels used for heating, mixing, stirring, and general liquid handling across chemistry, microbiology, and clinical labs. MBP stocks beakers in borosilicate glass and polypropylene formats from 5mL to 10,000mL, in Griffin style (low form) and standard configurations with molded or printed graduations, available as individual units or case packs. Lab managers across the US, Canada, and worldwide can order by PO or Quick Order for reliable supply.

Need help selecting the right laboratory beakers for your application? — Contact our team at customerservice@mbpinc.net for product recommendations, bulk pricing, and purchasing assistance.

Beakers

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What Are Laboratory Beakers?

Laboratory beakers are wide-mouth cylindrical vessels with a flat bottom, pour spout, and volume graduation markings, used for heating liquids, mixing reagents, preparing buffers, and performing titrations. Beakers are available in two material groups—borosilicate glass and polymer plastics such as polypropylene (PP) and polymethylpentene (PMP)—and two standard forms: Griffin (low form) and Berzelius (tall form). Choose borosilicate glass beakers for heat resistance and chemical compatibility; choose plastic beakers when shatter resistance and lightweight handling are priorities.

How to Choose Laboratory Beakers

Material: Glass vs. Plastic

Borosilicate glass beakers withstand high temperatures, autoclaving, and exposure to a broad range of laboratory chemicals, including many acids, bases, and organic solvents. Polypropylene beakers are lightweight, durable, and resistant to breakage, making them suitable for routine aqueous solutions and safety-focused laboratory environments.

Form Factor: Griffin vs. Berzelius

Griffin-style beakers feature a low-form design with a wide, stable base, making them ideal for general mixing, stirring, and heating applications. Berzelius-style beakers are taller and narrower, providing a deeper liquid column that is useful for titrations, distillation procedures, and applications requiring reduced evaporation.

Graduation Type: Molded vs. Printed

Molded graduations are permanently formed into the beaker wall and remain readable after repeated washing, autoclaving, and chemical exposure. Printed graduations offer enhanced visibility and contrast but may gradually fade with extensive use or exposure to harsh solvents.

Volume and Pack Format

Laboratory beakers are available in capacities ranging from 5 mL to 10,000 mL. Individual units are suitable for occasional laboratory use, while case-pack quantities support high-volume purchasing and institutional procurement programs.

Beaker Types

Borosilicate glass beakers provide excellent chemical resistance and can withstand temperatures up to approximately 500°C under dry-heat conditions. They are the preferred choice for heating applications, organic solvent handling, autoclaving, and analytical laboratory procedures where material purity is important.

Polypropylene (PP) beakers are lightweight, shatter-resistant, and autoclavable at standard sterilization temperatures. They are commonly used for preparing aqueous buffers, routine reagent handling, and laboratory environments where breakage prevention is a priority.

Polymethylpentene (PMP) beakers combine high optical clarity with excellent impact resistance and moderate heat tolerance. They are suitable for applications requiring better visibility than polypropylene while maintaining the advantages of plastic construction.

Griffin-style (low-form) beakers are the most widely used laboratory beaker design. Available in both glass and plastic materials, they are intended for general-purpose mixing, heating, stirring, and liquid transfer tasks performed on the laboratory bench.

Specifications Context

Borosilicate glass beakers manufactured to ASTM E960 and USP Type I standards typically provide graduation accuracy within approximately ±5% of total capacity. Griffin-style beakers feature a low-form geometry with a height-to-diameter ratio of approximately 1.4:1, providing stability during heating and stirring. Polypropylene beakers are autoclavable at 121°C but should not be exposed to dry heat above approximately 135°C. PMP beakers offer greater optical clarity than polypropylene while maintaining excellent impact resistance.

MBP stocks glass and plastic laboratory beakers in a wide range of sizes and case-pack quantities for laboratories throughout the United States, Canada, and worldwide.

Upgrade your bench with quality you can trust. Browse our full catalog and reach out to the MBP team for a quote today to secure your supplies.

FAQ

A Griffin style beaker is the standard low-form laboratory beaker — wider than it is tall, with a height-to-diameter ratio of approximately 1.0:1.4. The Griffin form is the most common beaker design in chemistry and biology labs, suited for stirring on a magnetic stirrer, heating on a hot plate, and buffer preparation. Its flat, wide base provides stability during mixing.

Borosilicate glass beakers withstand autoclaving at 121°C, hot-plate heating, and exposure to strong acids, bases, and organic solvents including xylene and acetone. Polypropylene (PP) plastic beakers are shatterproof, lighter, and resistant to most aqueous lab reagents, but cannot tolerate high heat or concentrated organic solvents. Choose glass for heat and chemical resistance; choose plastic for shatter safety and lightweight handling.

MBP stocks laboratory beakers from 5mL to 10,000mL, covering micro-scale liquid handling at the low end and bulk reagent preparation at 5L and 10L capacities. Common bench sizes — 50mL, 100mL, 250mL, 1,000mL, and 2,000mL — are stocked in both glass and polypropylene formats.

Molded-in graduations are permanently embossed into the vessel wall and cannot be removed by solvents, cleaning agents, or autoclaving. Printed graduations offer higher contrast for quick bench reading but may fade with repeated autoclaving or aggressive solvent cleaning. For beakers that undergo frequent sterilisation cycles, molded graduations are more durable.

Borosilicate glass beakers can be autoclaved at 121°C, 15 psi, for standard sterilisation cycles, and dry-heat sterilised to 500°C. PP plastic beakers can be autoclaved at 121°C but should not be exposed to dry heat above 135°C. Confirm the specific beaker material before autoclaving — PMP has higher heat tolerance than PP but still lower than borosilicate glass.

Griffin style (low form) beakers have a height approximately equal to their diameter — wide and stable, the standard bench beaker for stirring, mixing, and heating. Berzelius (tall form) beakers are approximately twice as tall as they are wide, used where a tall liquid column is needed for titration setups and distillation. MBP stocks Griffin style beakers; confirm availability of tall form by contacting the team.

MBP offers beakers in case pack quantities for high-volume labs, as well as individual units. Contact the MBP team at customerservice@mbpinc.net or use the Quick Order portal for case pricing and lead times. MBP is a registered vendor to Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Vanderbilt University, and MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Polypropylene (PP) beakers are used for preparing aqueous buffers, handling dilute acids and bases, weighing solid reagents, and general liquid handling where glass breakage is a safety or cost concern. PP beakers are not suitable for concentrated organic solvents (acetone, xylene, chloroform) or high-temperature applications above ~121°C. They are standard in teaching labs, field labs, and any bench where shatter resistance is a priority.

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