Lab Equipment

Unit 1 Lesson 1
Lab Equipment

Learning Objectives:
Students will be able to:
● Name common lab equipment and describe its function.
● Describe the correct use of common lab equipment.
Lab Equipment
Core Vocabulary
• Beaker • Erlenmeyer flask •Ring Stand • Test Tube Brush
• Beaker tongs • Evaporating dish •Rubber stopper • Test Tube Rack
• Boiling tube • Forceps •Ruler • Test Tube holder
• Boss head & • Funnel •Spatula • Thermometer
clamp • Heat proof mat •Spirit lamp • Triple Beam Balance
• Bunsen burner • Hot Plate •Stirring rod • Tripod
• Clay triangle • Measuring •Spot Plate • Tweezers
• Crucible and lid cylinder •Stopwatch/Timer • Watch glass
• Digital balance • Mortar and Pestle •Striker • Wash bottle
• Dropper • Petri dish •Test Tubes • Wire Gauze Mat
• Dropper bottle
Lab Equipment

Containers for
Chemicals
Lab Equipment

Beaker
• Used for:
- storing a measured amount of liquid.

- holding solids and to

- mixing or heating materials.

• Different capacities including: 50 ml, 250 ml, 500

ml, 1000 ml.
• Beakers have poor accuracy, so should not be
used to measure a volume of liquid.
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Erlenmeyer Flask
• Also known as conical flasks due to their
conical shape.
• Used for:
- holding solids or liquids
- heating a substance
- stirring or swirling a liquid as their
shape prevents spillage.
Lab Equipment

Test tube
• The test tube is the most common
piece of glassware used in the
Science laboratory.
• It comes in various sizes and is used
to:
- mix liquids,
- mix solids with a liquid,
- grow cultures, etc.
Lab Equipment

Boiling Tube
• A boiling tube is a larger,
more robust test-tube
which can withstand higher
amounts of heat.
• These are used to heat
small volumes of
substance.
Test tube (left)
Boiling tube (right)
Lab Equipment

Watch Glass
• These are used to hold a small
amount of solid or liquid when
heating it.
• It can also be used as a lid for
a beaker.
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Evaporating Dish
• This ceramic vessel is used
to heat substances.
• The substance may be a
solid which needs to melt,
or mixture which needs to
be evaporated to obtain a
crystalline solid.
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Petri Dish
• A Petri dish is a shallow glass
or plastic dish that comes with
a cover.
• Named after its inventor
Julius Richard Petri.
• It is used to grow
microbiological cultures.
Lab Equipment
Mortar and Pestle
• This is a porcelain bowl and
rounded club-like tool which
can be used to crush and
grind solids into a fine
powder or mixture.
Lab Equipment
Time to Think!

Which piece of lab equipment A.Erlenmeyer Flask

Answer:
would be the best choice for C! A test tube is the
mixing 2 milliliters of Dihydrogen
bestB.choice
Beakerto mix
monoxide (water) with 1 milliliter
of Trihydrogen nitride (ammonia)? two small amounts
C. Test Tube
of liquids
Lab Equipment

Holding things
Lab Equipment

Tweezers
• Used for picking up small or
sterile objects.
• They are usually metal or
sometimes plastic.
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Spatula
• A spatula allows small quantities of
a solid or to be picked up and
transferred to and from any
container.
• It is generally used as a spoon in a
laboratory.
Lab Equipment
Test tube rack
• This is a stand that is used
to hold 5-10 test tubes
upright.
• Some holders have a row of
spikes which can be used
to invert test tubes for
drying them after your
experiment.
Lab Equipment

Test tube holder

• Used to hold a hot test tube during
or after it has been heated.
Lab Equipment
Beaker Tongs

• Allows you to safely carry a

beaker after it has been
heated.
Lab Equipment

Ring Stand
• A ring stand (also known as a retort or
clamp stand) is used with a boss head
and clamp.
• It is used to hold other pieces of
equipment such as burettes, flasks, or
Petri dishes in a fixed position.
Lab Equipment
Boss head and Clamp
• A boss head is a double-
ended screw which
secures a clamp to a ring
stand.
• The clamp connects to the
boss head and holds other
lab equipment such as
flasks, usually during
heating or separation labs
Lab Equipment

Heating Equipment
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Striker

A flint striker is used to

provide spark to light a
Bunsen burner.
Lab Equipment
TRUE OR FALSE?

A striker used to start a

bunsen burner uses
phosphorus, the same
material on the tip of a
safety match, to spark a
flame.
Lab Equipment
TRUE OR FALSE?

A striker used to start a

FALSE!
bunsen burner uses A striker uses flint, a form of the mineral
phosphorus, the same quartz. When the flint strikes against the
material on the tip of a steel it produces sparks as the flint edge
safety match, to spark a shaves off particles of steel which then
flame. exposes the iron that reacts to oxygen.
This reaction causes the spark that
ignites your Bunsen burner!
Lab Equipment

Bunsen Burner
• The Bunsen is used for burning or
heating substances.

• It has an adjustable collar which

changes the color of the flame from
orange (safety) to blue (heating).
Lab Equipment
Gauze Mat
• This is a mesh-like structure
made of iron.
• It is used to support a beaker
or a flask on top of a tripod
while heating.
• The wire mesh distributes the
heat evenly so that there are
no hot spots in the substance
being heated.
Lab Equipment

Clay Triangle, Crucible and Lid

• A clay triangle is used to hold a
crucible or evaporating dish
while its being heated.
• A crucible heats small amounts
of substance to extremely high
temperatures.
Lab Equipment

Tripod and Heat proof mat

• A tripod supports glassware e.g.,

beakers and flasks on a wire mat while a
substance is being heated with a
Bunsen.
• A heat proof mat is placed underneath
any heating equipment and protects the
bench, should anything overflow or
splash out of your experiment.
Lab Equipment
Hot Plate
• Hot plates can be used to heat
liquid substances in glass
beakers.

• Usually used when you don’t

need extremely high
temperatures like temperatures
you get with a Bunsen burner.
Lab Equipment

Spirit lamp
• This lamp can be used instead
of a Bunsen burner.
• It has a container filled with a
fuel such as spirits or alcohol
and a wick inside.
Lab Equipment

Measuring
Lab Equipment

Measuring Cylinder
• Also known as a graduated
cylinder, the measuring cylinder is
used to accurately measure a
volume of a liquid in milliliters (ml).
• The measuring cylinder has
markings on it so that an accurate
amount of liquid can be measured.
Lab Equipment
Digital Balance

• Also known as an
analytical balance.
• This is used to accurately
measure the mass of any
solid.
Lab Equipment

Triple Beam Balance

• Measures the mass of a

solid accurately.
• These have largely been
replaced by electronic
balances.
Lab Equipment

Ruler
• Used to measure the dimensions
of an object, draw graphs and
scientific diagrams.

Name THREE types of units of

measument on a ruler commonly used in
a lab setting.
● Milimeters
● Centimeters
● Meters
Lab Equipment

Thermometer
• Used to accurately measure
the temperature of a
substance.
Lab Equipment
Time to Think!

TRUE OR FALSE:
A triple beam balance is used to
measure the volume of an object.
Lab Equipment
Time to Think!

FALSE!
TRUE OR FALSE:
A triple beam balance is used to
measure to mass of an object.
A triple beam balance is used to
measure the volume of an object.
A graduated cylinder would be
used to measure the volume of a
substance.
Lab Equipment
Time to Think!
The lab instructions tell you to
measure the time it takes for a
reaction to occur. A.Stopwatch
Then it asks, “How long did it take
to see a visible change in color of
the chemical mixture?” B. Timer
What piece of lab equipment
would be best to measure the
time it took to see the reaction?
Lab Equipment

Time to Think!
Answer:
A stopwatch A.Stopwatch
A stopwatch would be best to
measure the time it took to see the
reaction. B. Timer
A timer would be used if the lab
instructed you to observe the reaction
after a specified amount of time
(example: 2 minutes)
Lab Equipment

Stopwatch / Timer
• Stopwatches and timers are
used in the lab setting to
accurately measure the timing
on a reaction or experiment.
Lab Equipment

Other Useful
Items
Lab Equipment
Droppers and dropper bottles
• Droppers and dropper bottles dispense liquids
one drop at a time.

• Droppers can be made of plastic or glass.

• Disposable droppers are made of plastic and are

useful when sterile technique is needed. Glass
droppers usually have a rubber bulb attached to
draw the liquid into the dropper.
Lab Equipment
Who or what is
the Pasteur
Do you know... pipette
(dropper)
named after?
Lab Equipment
Answer:
Louis Pasteur!
The French chemist &
microbiologist that discovered
germs cause disease!
The dropper is also known as a
Pasteur pipette because of how
often Louis Pasteur used it during
his microscopic research on
germs.
Lab Equipment

Test tube brush

• Test tube brushes are used to
wash and clean test tubes.
• Test tubes should always be
cleaned after every use.
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Wash bottle
• Used to wash specimens, rinsing
crystals and adding a small amount
of water to an experiment.
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Spot Plate
• Used to perform small
chemical reactions which only
require a few drops of
chemical.
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Glass stirring rod

• Used to stir chemicals which are hot or
need to be dissolved.
• Glass does not react with common lab
chemicals, does not conduct heat like
metals or melt like plastic.
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Funnel
• Used for filtering substances
or pouring liquids from one
container into another.
• Prevents spilling.
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Rubber Stopper
• Used to plug a flask or test
tube to ensure the contents is
kept inside.