Lab Equipment

Lab Equipment

*These are the pieces of equipment you may see in class. You will be expected to know the names of

the items and the actual use for each*

Beaker

• Holds and measures approximately large volumes of liquid.

• Also used as a water bath for heating test tubes.

Conical Flask / Rubber Stopper

• A narrow-mouthed container used to transport, heat or store substances, often used when a stopper is required.

• Also known as an Erlenmeyer Flask.

• Stopper closes off flask like in a bath tub.

Burette

• A vertical cylindrical piece of laboratory glassware with a volumetric graduation on its full length and a precision tap, or stopcock with plug and bore, on the bottom.

• It is used to dispense known amounts of a liquid reagent in experiments for which such precision is necessary, such as a titration experiment.

Bunsen Burner

• Produces a flame to heat using gas and air.

Graduated Cylinder

• Graduated tube with a spout that is used especially for measuring small amounts of liquid with precision.

Hot Plate

• Produces heat like a stove's burner.

• Used in most experiments when open flames can be an issue.

Glass Stirring Rod

• Used to stir or mix solutions that are either hot or cold.

Tongs

• Used to pick up glassware that may be hot including beakers, crucibles and flasks.

Lab Stand / Ring Stand Test Tube Holder/ Wire Gauze

• Stand that allows clamps to be attached for various experiments.

• Ring clamps attach to a lab stand and are used to hold a variety of lab equipment many times with the wire gauze across it.

• Test tube holders allow you to clamp test tubes to the stand for heating.

• Other clamps will hold things like conical flasks and burettes for experiments.

Triple Beam Balance / Scale

• Used to measure the mass of an object usually in grams or kilograms depending on the chemical.

Funnel

• Used to pour liquids or solids into another piece of lab equipment.

• May be made out of glass or plastic and usually have long spouts.

Test Tube / Holder / Rack / Brush

• A small glass container used to view chemical reactions or to heat small amounts of a substance .

• The rack and holder are each to hold the test tube if they may be hot or you need to set them down.

• The brush is only for test tubes and small graduated cylinders to clean them.

Crucible / Evaporating Dish

• Crucible - A ceramic or metal container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures.

• Evaporating Dish - A small shallow dish used in laboratories to heat and evaporate substances.

Eye Dropper

• Used to add small amounts of a liquid to an experiment or to remove liquid that has a solid settled underneath it.

Striker / Lighter

• Used to create a spark to start a Bunsen burner.

• If constantly sparked they will no longer work as the flint wears down.

Watch Glass

• A shallow glass dish used as an evaporating surface or to cover a beaker.

• Easily breakable!

Spatula

• Used to remove a portion of a solid from a chemical bottle or a test tube.

• Should only be used in one chemical and then thoroughly washed.

Wash Bottle

• The wash bottle contains deionized water and is used to rinse glassware, among other things.

Litmus Paper

• Indicates whether a solution is acidic or basic.

• Usually found as red or blue.