There are many different kinds of measuring, pouring, and holding glasses in a well-stocked lab. This glassware comes in many different shapes and sizes, from thin pipettes that deliver precise amounts of liquid to much bigger beakers that hold a lot more liquid.
Each device does something different. Borosilicate glass makes lab glasses that are strong and hard to break. It can keep chemical reactions contained and heat liquids to high temperatures.
Tools For Measuring The Volume
Markings on laboratory glassware can be helpful in different ways. There are different sizes and shapes of glassware used in labs. Here are some of the most common pieces of glassware used to measure liquids.
1. Erlenmeyer Flasks
The necks of these flasks are thin and cylindrical, and the bases are cone-shaped with a flat bottom. Emil Erlenmeyer, a German organic chemist, made them in 1861. That’s why they’re called “Erlenmeyer glasses.” People often use 250 Erlenmeyer flasks to mix and heat solutions. Most of the time, they are made of borosilicate glass, which doesn’t break when heated to high temperatures.
2. Beakers
Beakers are cylindrical containers made of glass with a rolled edge and a spout for pouring. They are almost always in labs. Beakers are a type of lab equipment that can be used for many things, such as mixing chemicals or heating solutions over a Bunsen burner. The side of the beaker has measurements written on it.
3. Different-Sized Cylinders
Graduated cylinders are tall, cylindrical containers with a pouring spout. They are similar to beakers. On the side, some lines can be used to measure the amount of liquid. Most laboratories have graduated cylinders of different sizes. The most common volume measurements, which are written in milliliters, are 10, 25, 50, 100, 500, and 1,000 mL.
4. Volumetric Flasks
Volumetric flasks, which are also called “Dewar flasks” after the Scottish chemist and physicist Sir James Dewar, have a long, narrow neck and a round bulb with a flat bottom. On the side, there is a hash mark for precise measurement at a certain temperature. They are set up to hold a certain amount of liquid at a certain temperature. Most of the time, volumetric flasks are used to make known solutions with precise dilutions.
5. Burettes
Burettes are long, thin glass tubes with lines on the side that can be used to measure. They have a tapered end for precise liquid measurements and a stopcock (a rubber stopper) to control the flow of liquid in titrations. You can turn the stopcock to let small amounts of liquid out of the tube. Most of the time, burettes are used to measure precise, variable amounts of solution, mostly for titration and mixing a known amount of one reactant until the right reaction happens.
6. Pipettes
Pipettes are measuring tools that are used to give out tiny amounts of liquids. They are long, thin tubes made of glass with a bulb in the middle. They show when they are full of a hash mark. Scientists use a small rubber bulb to draw liquid into the tube and move it to another container or mixture.
Serological pipettes are used to move between less than 1 mL and up to 50 mL of liquid. They could be made of glass, plastic, or disposable pipettes. 50 ml Serological pipettes are often used to mix chemical solutions or cell suspensions, move liquids from one container to another, or layer reagents with different densities.
Volumetric pipettes only have one graduation, so they can only be used to measure one thing accurately. They come in many different sizes, usually between 1 mL and 100 mL. They are marked with a line that shows how much liquid is in them, as well as a temperature and an estimate of how accurate they are.
Wrap Up:
You must know the right kind of measuring types of equipment in the lab. You should know whether to use an electronic pipette or a manual one for an experiment and what kind of scales to use before you start the experiment.
