SAFE
USE OF GLASSWARE
When heated with proper care Laboratory Glasswares will give
long and satisfactory service. The
following notes assist users in obtaining the maximum life and
performance from their Laboratory
Glassware.
HEATING
AND COOLING
Glass may suffer damage in three ways :
* It may break under thermal stress in the 'steady state'.
* It may break under sudden heating or cooling.
* Glass if heated beyond certain temperature, may acquire a
permanent stress on cooling which could
cause subsequent failure.
The following suggestions will help in avoiding failures during
heating and cooling procedures.
1. During evaporation, never leave vessel unattended. Lower the
temperature gradually as the liquid
level drops, to avoid dryness condition, otherwise glass vessel
may crack or explode.
2. Always use caution when placing heated vessel on a cold or
damp surface. Sudden temperature
may cause the vessel to break.
3. Always cool vessels slowly to avoid thermal breakage.
4. Never apply heat to badly scratched or etched vessel to prevent
chance of breakage.
5. Avoid point source of heating to a vessel and always diffuse
it by using a metal guage or air/water
bath. Alternatively ensure uniform heating of the vessel by
slow movement of the vessel in relation to
he heat source.
6. Uniform heat is critical factor for some chemical reactions.
For this adjust large soft flame of Bunsen
burner to heat slowly but also more uniformly.
7. Adjust the flame contacts and heat the vessel below the
liquid level to avoid breakage of the vessel.
8. Always use anti-bumping devices in the vessel, such as
pumice or glass wool when rapid heating of
the vessel and contents is required and to prevent internal
abrasions of the vessels.
9. Thick walled glasswares are best heated with the use of an
electric immersion heater and should not
e subjected to direct flame or other localised heat source.
10. Do not heat glassware's over electric heaters with open
elements to avoid localised stress and
chances of breakage.
11. Always ensure that the surface of the hot plate is larger
in area than the base of the vessel being
heated to prevent uneven heating and glassware breakage.
12. When using electrical appliances always ensure to follow
manufacturer's instructions.
MIXING
AND STIRRING
1. To prevent scratching the inside of a vessel always use a
'policemen' or similar device on stirring
rods.
2. When using a glass vessel with a magnetic stirrer always
uses a covered follower to prevent
abrading the inside of the vessel.
3. Before using glass or metal mechanical stirrer in a glass
vessel, predetermine the height of the stirrer
to ensure there is no contact between the stirrer blades and
the bottom or sides of the vessel.
4. Never mix sulphuric acid and water inside a glass-measuring
cylinder. The heat of reaction can break
the base of the cylinder.
VACUUM
AND PRESSURE
1. Always follow safety measures when working with glassware
subjected to pressure or vacuum.
2. Never use glassware beyond the recommended safe limit.
3. Gradually apply and release positive and negative pressures
and never subject to sudden pressure
changes.
JOINING AND SEPARATING GLASS APPARATUS
1. When storing glass stopcocks and joints insert a thin strip
of paper between joint surfaces to prevent
sticking.
2. Never store stopcocks for long periods with lubricant still
on the ground surfaces.
3. Glass stopcocks on Burettes and Separating Funnels should be
lubricated frequently to prevent
sticking.
4. If a ground joint sticks, the use of penetrating oil will
often prove useful in helping separation.
Carefully rocking the cone in the socket or gently tapping the
socket flange on a wooden surface can
generally achieve separation.
5. In using lubricants it is advisable to apply a light coat of
grease completely around the upper part of
the joint and avoid greasing that part of the joint, which
contacts the inner part of the apparatus.
6. (a). Hydrocarbon grease are commonly used on standard taper
joints. Most laboratory solvents,
including acetone, can easily remove it.
(b). For higher temperature or high vacuum applications,
silicon grease is often preferred and it can
be removed readily with chloroform.
( c ). For long term reflux or extraction reactions, glycerin
grease is suitable and it is soluble in water.
7. Wear heavy protective gloves when inserting glass tubing
into a bung. The use of water, oil or
glycerol is recommended on both tubing and rubber bung while
carrying this operation.
PERSONALSAFETY
1. To prevent accidents use tongs or asbestos gloves to remove
all glassware from heat source.
2. Follow safety measures.
3. Before opening Acid bottle, always flush the outside of
bottle with water.
4. All mercury containers should be kept well stoppered.
Mercury toxicity is cumulative and element's
ability to amalgamate with a number of metals is well known.
5. Never taste or smell chemicals for identification and never
drink from a beaker.
6. When using concentrated acids, alkalies or potentially
hazardous materials use mechanical means
or pipeting. Avoid pipeting by mouth.
7. Label all containers before filling. Never fill unlabeled
containers and throw away contents of
unlabeled containers.
8. Do not look down into a test-tube to avoid any type of
accident while test tube being heated or
containing chemicals.
9. Do not permit glass-to-metal contact when clamping
glassware, and do not excessively tighten the
clamps to avoid breakages.
10. Splattering from acids, caustic materials and strong
oxidizing solutions on the skin or clothing should
be washed off immediately with large quantities of water.
11. When working with chlorine, hydrogen, sulphide, carbon
monoxide, hydrogen cyanide and other
very toxic substances, always use a protective mask or perform
these experiments under a fume
hood in a well-ventilated area.
12. In working with volatile materials, remember that heat
causes expansion and confinement of
expansion results in explosion.
13. Perchloric acid is especially dangerous because it explodes
on contact with organic materials. Do not
use perchloric acid around wooden benches or tables. Keep
perchloric acid bottles on glass or
ceramic trays having enough volume to hold all the acid in case
the bottle breaks. When using
perchloric acid, always wear protective clothing.
14. When using hot plates and other electrical equipments,
ensure the wire and plugs are in good
condition. Never handle electrical connection with damp hands.
CLEANING
Successful experimental results can only be achieved by using a
clean apparatus. In all instances
laboratory glassware must be physically clean, in nearly all
cases it must be chemically clean and in
specific cases it must be bacteriological clean or sterile.
There must be no trace of grease and safest
criteria of cleanliness are the uniform wetting of the glass
surface by distilled water. Any prevention of
uniform wetting of the surface will introduce errors such as
distortion of the meniscus and accuracy of
volume.
GENERALCLEANING
1. Experienced personnel must solely undertake. cleaning of
glassware, which contain hazardous
materials.
2. Most new glassware is slightly alkaline in reaction. For
precision chemical tests, new glassware
should be soaked several hours in acid water (1% solution
hydrochloric acid or nitric acid) before
washing.
3. Glassware, which is contaminated with blood clots, culture
media, etc., must be sterilized before
cleaning.
4. If glassware becomes unduly clouded or dirty or contains coagulated
organic matter, it must be
cleaned with chromic acid cleaning solution. The dichromate's
should be handled with extreme care
because it is a powerful corrosive.
5. Wash glassware, as quickly as possible after use but if
delays are unavoidable, the articles should be
allowed to soak in water.
6. Grease is removed by weak sodium carbonate solution or
acetone or fat solvents. Never use strong
alkalis.
7. Hot water with recommended detergents should be used and if
glass is exceptionally dirty a cleaning
powder with a mild abrasive action can be applied - provided
the surface is not scratched.
8. During the washing all parts of the article should be
thoroughly scrubbed with a brush selected for the
shape and size of the glassware. Brushes should always be in
good condition to avoid any abrasion
of the glassware.
9. When chromic acid solution is used, the item may be rinsed
with the cleaning solution or it may be
filled and allowed to stand-the amount of time depending on
amount of contamination on the
glassware.
10. Special types of precipitate material may require removal
with nitric acid, aqua regia or fuming
sulphuric acid. These are very corrosive substances and should
be used only when required.
11. It is imperative that all soap detergents and other
cleaning fluids be removed from glassware before
use. This is especially important with the detergents, slightly
traces of which will interfere with
serological and culture reactions. After cleaning, thoroughly
rinse with tap water ensuring that
containers are partly filled water, shaken and emptied several
times. Finally rinse with demonized or
distilled water.
12. Drying can be undertaken either in baskets or on pegs in
air or at a temperature not exceeding 120 OC.
13. Always protect clean glassware from dust by use of
temporary closures or by placing in a dust free
cabinet. For cleaning Specific type of glassware, please refer
the following pages
CLEANING
SPECIFIC TYPES OF GLASSWARE
PIPETTES
1. Place pipettes tips down, in a cylinder or tall jar of water
immediately after use. Gently place it on a pad
of cotton or wool to prevent breaking of the tips. At a
convenient time, the pipettes may then be
drained and placed in a cylinder or jar of dissolved detergent
or, if exceptionally dirty, in a jar of chromic
acid cleaning solution. After soaking for several hours , or
overnight, drain the pipettes and run tap
water over and through them until all traces of dirt are
removed. Soak the pipettes in distilled water for
at least one hour. Remove from the distilled water, dry the
outside with a cloth shake out the water and
dry.
2. In laboratories where a large number of pipettes are used
daily, it is convenient to use an automatic
pipette washer. Polyethylene baskets and jars may be used for
soaking and rinsing pipettes in
chromic acid cleaning solution.
3. After drying, place pipettes in a dust-free drawer. Wrap
serological and bacteriological pipettes in
paper or place in pipette cans and sterilize in the dry air
sterilizer at 160 OC for two hours. Pipette used
for transferring infectious material should have a plug of
cotton placed in the mouth end of the pipette
before sterilizing.
BUERETTES
(WITH GLASS STOPCOCK)
1. Remove the stopcock key and wash the burette with detergent
and water.
2. Rinse with the tap water until all the dirt is removed. Then
rinse with distilled water and dry.
3. Wash the stopcock key separately. Before the stopcock key is
replaced in the buerette, lubricate the
joint with a small amount of lubricant.
REMEMBER THAT BURETTE STOPCOCK KEYS ARE NOT INTERCHANGEABLE.
4. Always cover burettes when not in use.
CULTURE
TUBES
1. Culture tubes, which have been used, previously must be
sterilized before cleaning. The best general
method for sterlising culture tubes is by autoclaving for 30
minutes at 121OC (15 lb. pressure). Media
that solidify on cooling should be poured out while the tubes
are hot. After the tubes are emptied, brush
with detergent and water, rinse thoroughly with tap water,
rinse with distilled water, place in a basket
and dry.
2. If tubes are to be filled with a medium, which is sterilized
by autoclaving, do not plug until the medium is
added. Both medium and tubes are thus sterilized with one
autoclaving.
3. If the tubes are to be filled with a sterile medium or if
they are to be sterilized by the fractional method
and sterilize the tubes in the autoclaves or dry air sterilizer
before adding the medium.
SEROLOGICALTUBE
1. Serological tubes should be chemically clean but need not be
sterile. However, specimens of blood,
which are to be kept for some time at room temperature, should
be collected in a sterile container. It
may be expedient to sterilize all tubes as routine.
2. To clean and sterilize tubes containing blood, discard the
clots in a waste container and place the
tubes in a large basket. Put the basket with others, in a large
bucket or boiler. Cover with water, add a
fair quantity of soft soap or detergent and boil for 30
minutes. Rinse the tubes and clean with brush,
rinse and dry with the usual precautions.
3. It is imperative when washing serological glassware that all
acid, alkali and detergent be completely
removed. Both acid and lkali in small amounts destroy
complement and in large amounts produce
hemolysis . Detergents interfere with serological reactions.
4. Serological tubes and glassware should be kept separate from
all other glassware and used for
nothing except serological procedures.
DISHES
AND CULTURE BOTTLES
1. Sterilize and clean as detailed under Culture Tubes.
2. Wrap in heavy paper or place in a petri dish can.
3. Sterilize in the autoclave or dry air sterilizer.
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