Glass Laboratory Materials: Names, Use, Function And Classification

🔍What Are Glass Laboratory Materials?

Glass laboratory materials are the tools and equipment used by professionals or students working in a laboratory.

These tools are mainly used to conduct an experiment or to make measurements and collect data.

What materials are these instruments made of?

The types of glass that are mainly used are: sodocalcium glass and borosilicate glass. They differ in their chemical and physical properties and are therefore used for different applications.

📈Types Of Glass Laboratory Materials

In the manufacture of glass from laboratory materials are used such as quartz, soda lime, borosilicate and actinic, among others

Borosilicate glasses.

This is used in beakers, vials, test tubes, vials, etc.

Quartz glass. They are created a high temperatures of 2,000C due to the melting of the sand. It is usually transparent, with superior thermal and optical properties.

Actinic Glass.

There are glass equipment that are dark brown or amber in color. These can be created from any material and are named after the color.

Soda and lime glass

This glass is extremely fragile and has a low melting point. It is almost impossible to repair and does not have a high resistance to thermal shock.

⌛Classification Of Glass Laboratory Materials

Volumetric Glassware

Laboratory glassware it can be made from borosilicate and sodium-calcium glass. Glass sodocalcium is usually used for class B products or when it is long-term exposure to chemicals is unlikely, for example, one-brand pipettes.

Class A Volumetric borosilicate glassware has superior thermal and chemical resistance and is more suitable for storing solutions, for example, jars.

🍀Glass Laboratory Materials Names

The common types of glassware they include beakers, flasks, pipettes and test tubes.

Glasses

Beakers are the workhorse of any chemistry laboratory. They come in a variety of sizes and are used to measure liquid volumes.

Erlenmeyer Flasks

This type of jar has a narrow neck and a flat bottom. It is good for stirring, storing and heating liquids.

Test tubes

Test tubes are good for collecting and holding small samples. They are not normally used to measure accurate volumes.

Pipettes

Pipettes are used to supply volumes of liquids reliably and repeatedly.

Florence jars or jars for boiling

The Florence jar is round with thick walls and a narrow neck. It is almost always made of borosilicate glass so that it can withstand heating under a direct flame.

Volumetric jars

For the preparation of the solutions volumetric jars are used. Each has a narrow neck with a marking, usually for a single precise volume.

🌻Laboratory Glass Materials Function

The glassware used as laboratory apparatus offers a wide range of containment functions and transport for solutions and other liquids used in laboratories.

Glasses

They are glass containers that they come in a variety of sizes and can be used to mix and transporting fluids, heating fluids over an open flame, and containing chemicals during a reaction.

Funnel

Glass funnels can be use to protect against spills when chemicals are poured from one container to another, and can also be equipped with a filter to separate solids from liquids.

Graduated cylinders

Are used to measure the volume.  They are more accurate than glasses of precipitates, as they measure their content up to one percent of the volume real.

Pipettes

They are used to extract precisely measured quantities of fluid from a receptacle.

Volumetric Flasks

Volumetric flasks are used to create precise quantities of solutions.

🦋Glass Laboratory Materials Use

Vessel.

It is a simple cylindrical container used to hold solids and liquids with sizes ranging from very small (10 mL) to very large (4,000 mL).

Jar.

They are designed so that the contents can rotate without spilling.

Erlenmeyer flask.

Its flat bottom allows the Erlenmeyer flask to be heated directly and used in simple reflux (boiling) and condensation procedures.

In Florence.

Applications range from direct heating to the use of a heating mantle.

Test tubes.

They are used for storing, heating and mixing chemicals.

Glass for watches.

It is used when a large surface area is needed for a small volume of liquid.

Crystallization plate.

It is commonly used as a short-term container for liquids in a variety of bathing processes (water, acid or oil).

❤Refractory Glass Laboratory Materials

Laboratory materials of refractory glass are as follows:

Test tubes, distillation flask, which is used to store the liquid mixtures to be distilled, Beaker or beaker, Petri dishes, graduated pipettes, Erlenmeyer flask, tripod and gas or Bunsen burner.

👉Graduated Glass Laboratory Materials

Graduated cylinder

The graduated test piece is used to measure a semi-precise liquid volume.

Volumetric Glassware

It is used to make solutions standardized (high precision).

Jar

They are used to make solutions of precise volumes.

Pipettes

They are known for their high accuracy, but they are used to dispense liquids, typically in the preparation of solutions in a volumetric flask.

Micropipettes

Micropipettes are a class specialized of volumetric pipettes used for very small volumes of 1 µl to 1,000 µl.

Burettes

The burette is an analytical piece of glassware used to dispense varying (but accurate) volumes of liquids.

📉Erlenmeyer Glass Laboratory Materials

Erlenmeyer's Jars, also known as conical jars, they are among the most recognized laboratory glassware and are routinely associated with science-themed TV shows and movies.

Its conical shape and its neck narrow are its distinctive features.  The rimmed mouth acts as a lip for easy pouring and long neck allows airtight storage when used with a stopper. Be features make them useful both in the laboratory and in the kitchen.

📉Use and function of the Erlenmeyer flask

The main advantage of using a corked or rubberized Erlenmeyer is the reduction or elimination of the evaporation of stored liquids or contamination by contaminants bacterial, fungal and airborne chemicals.

This advantage extends beyond from the field of science laboratories to home or work. From the very small 50ml to hold truffle oil, 250ml for dressings for salads, 500ml for coffee cream and 1000ml (1L or about 1 quart of gallon) for juice or milk.

They can all be poured without spills and autoclaved if necessary for long-term storage.