GLASSWARE APPARATUS AND ITS USES

Chemistry glassware is an essential form of equipment that all the labs require. Glassware apparatus are generally used for laboratory purposes. It offers a wide range of containment and transport functions for solutions and other liquid samples used in laboratories. The transparency of laboratory glassware allows users to easily monitor its content because the glass can withstand high temperatures and does not react with chemical and other substances that could skew results. Most of the laboratory glassware is manufactured with borosilicate glass, a particularly durable glass that can safely be used to hold chemicals being heated over a flame and also to contain acidic or corrosive chemicals. Although all these laboratory glassware should be cleaned immediately following use to prevent the chemical residue from hardening or mixing up. 

Being some of the most basic lab glassware used, beakers are simple, lipped cylindrical containers that hold liquid samples. They are often used to hold, mix, and heat individual chemicals or chemical mixtures. Beakers are glass containers that come in a variety of sizes and are used for mixing and transporting liquid samples or fluids, heating fluids over an open flame containing chemicals during a reaction. Most beakers have graduated volume measurements etched in the glass, although it is still an approximated measurement because it can deviate from the actual volume by 5%. That makes them unsuitable to use for a precision measurement tool. 

Funnels are used as a guard against spillage when pouring any chemical or liquid samples. It is also fitted with a filter to use it to separate solids from liquids. Separatory funnels are also used for filtration or extraction. It has a bulb-shaped enclosed body to pour substances, fitted with a stopper on top to prevent spillage when the funnel is inverted. There is a wide range of funnels such as Filter Funnel, Volumetric Funnels, Round-bottom funnels, Erlenmeyer funnels, Retort funnels, Buchner funnels, Dropping Funnel, Pear-shaped funnels and more. Each of them used to carry out different functions in the laboratory. 

Graduated cylinders are tall and narrow containers for measuring volumes. They are more accurate than beakers. It measures the content within one percent of the actual volume; they are not used for quantitative analysis of fluids that require a high degree of precision. They are fitted with a bumper ring which is a ring that shields the glass from impacting the work surface if the cylinder’s knocked over.

Pipettes are used to draw out perfectly measured amounts of fluid from a container. Volumetric pipettes are crafted to draw one specific quantity of a sample. Squeeze bulbs are most often used to draw the fluid into the pipet. The user squeezes the bulb as they place the pipett’s open end into the solution and release the bulb to collect the desired quantity of fluid. Accumax offers its own niche instruments, smart and intelligent pipettes in many types such as Fab pipette, Accumax smart, Accumax A-series, Accumac pro, Accumax VA-FA, Electronic, Junior and Transfer pipette. 

Volumetric Flasks are calibrated to contain a precise volume at a certain temperature and create accurate quantities of solutions. There is a graduation line etched  into the volumetric flasks’ neck to indicate volume. The lab worker first fills the flask by adding the solute and continues by pouring in the solvent and gradually adding the drops of water as much as needed to bring the level of the solution up to the flask’s graduated line. 

It is rare to find a lab without a test tube. Test tube is one of the most commonly used glassware apparatus and essential instruments in a laboratory. A cylindrical vessel with a round bottom that is used to hold chemicals during experiments. One can characterize them by their long, cylindrical form and U-shaped bottom with an open top. Test tubes can be used to heat or boil chemical samples. While heating, it is important to hold the test tube at a 45 degree angle so that the gasses formed inside the narrow tube may easily escape without causing the hot liquid to shoot up. There are many options when it comes to test tubes as well such as Centrifuge Tube, microcentrifuge tubes, Boiling Tube, NMR Tube, Thistle Tube, Capillary Tube, Fusion Tube and Thiele Tube, all facilitate different functions. 

Glassware apparatus are a vital part of laboratories to carry various different functions, reactions and experiments. Transparency, non-reacting substance, convenience, and more are the most common and biggest advantages of glassware apparatus. Still have questions? Get in touch with the Accumax lab!