Laboratory Equipments and Scientific Instruments

The Laboratory Equipments and Scientific Instruments are widely used in the modern era. The use of these equipment and instruments is continual since the early 80’s and 90’s. They are used in the field of scientific research. Both the equipment as well as the instruments are evolving year by year as the technology improves by leaps and bounds.

Let’s know more about these instruments and equipment.

Laboratory Equipments

A laboratory is a place where all the scientific research, experiments, testing, etc related to science are carried out. For this, many laboratory equipments are used which include glassware, metalware, plasticware, rubberware, and the lab essentials and safety equipment.

Glassware

A glass is a hard material which, when melted, can be blown, bent, cut and moulded in many shapes. Various lab products are made up of borosilicate glass. Every glassware has its own uses and specifications. Laboratory Glassware has a variety of products. These are categorised under various sub-heads which includes the following :

Interchangeable Glassware – The glassware which has joints in them and can be dismantled easily are known as interchangeable glassware. These include adapters, joints and stoppers.
Volumetric Glassware – The volumetric glassware is one that requires very high precision and accuracy while experimenting in them. This includes volumetric flask, burettes, pipettes and measuring cylinders.
Filtration Glassware – This glassware is used in laboratories to separate the states of matter. This process is known as filtration. It includes a glass funnel, ground joint flask, sintered disc and a spring clamp.
Tubes and Vials – These are used to store small amounts of liquids which are very precise. They are generally used in sampling. They include test tubes, chromatography vials, storage vials, centrifuge tubes and closure tubes.
Separating funnels and droppers – The separating funnels are used to separate heterogeneous mixtures one after the other. They include squibb shaped funnels, pear shaped funnels, gilson funnels and pressure equalizing funnels. Droppers on the other hand are used to dispense liquids drop by drop. The separating funnels also come with the dropper which are known as graduated dropping funnels. They are cylindrical in shape.
Condensers – Condensers are used to condense the vapours into liquids by cooling them. These include extraction apparatus, air condensers, liebig condensers, coil condenser, allihin condenser, dimroth condenser and condensers for soxhlet apparatus.
General Labware – The General Lab Glassware are those which are widely used in the laboratories to carry out experiments. These include beakers, erlenmeyer’s flask, round bottom flask, flat bottom flask, weighing scoops and petri dishes.
Bottles and Stopcocks – Bottles are used to store the liquids or chemicals in them for a long period of time. These include reagents bottles, weighing bottles, dropping bottles, BOD bottles and gas washing bottles. The glass stopcock is used to regulate the flow of gases and chemical reactions.
Miscellaneous – This includes all those items which are least used in the laboratory for example crubicles.

Metalware

A metal is a material that can easily conduct heat and electricity. It is lustrous. Metalware in laboratories include spatula, boss head, forceps, jack, bunsen burner, tripod stand, clamp, retort stand and ring.

Plasticware

Plasticware includes the racks, wash bottles, plastic funnels, and all the items made up of polypropylene.

Rubberware

Rubberware products are made up of rubber and silicone. It includes corks, lab sheets, vacuum tubes, lab mat, teats and burning tubes.

Lab Essentials and Safety

Lab essentials include gloves, lab coat, safety goggles and a mask. Keepin safety in mind, a laboratory should have a fire extinguisher, first aid kit, eye wash station and a fire blanket.

Scientific Instruments

A scientific instrument is the one which helps to carry out scientific experiments easily and in less time. These instruments are generally used in labs for rapid heating and mixing liquids. Instruments like microscopes are used by the researchers to study deeply about a cell. The scientific instruments in a laboratory include incubators, balances, stirrers, shakers, rotators, refractometers, etc.