Plastic Labware and Glass Labware
Plastic labware and glass labware includes any article made of glass or plastic that is intended for laboratory use, including, but not limited to beakers, bottles, petri dishes, flasks, funnels, jars, tubes and stoppers.
Types of plastic glassware and laboratory glassware covered in this area include: adapters are devices for connecting two parts (as of different diameters) of an apparatus. A beaker is an unrestricted or simple restricted vessel with high height-to-orifice diameter ratios. A boiling flask is a container used to distill a liquid. Another type of boiling flask is a Claisen flask. A bottle is a rigid or semi-rigid container typically of glass or plastic having a comparatively narrow neck or mouth and usually no handle. A burette is a graduated glass tube with a small aperture and stopcock for delivering measured quantities of liquid or for measuring the liquid or gas received or discharged. A column is a tube or cylinder in which a chromatographic separation takes place. A condenser is an apparatus in which gas or vapor is condensed. A cylinder is a tall narrow container with a volume scale used especially for measuring liquids. An Erlenmeyer flask is a flat-bottomed conical laboratory flask. A funnel is a utensil that is usually a hollow cone with a tube extending from the smaller end and that is designed to catch and direct a downward flow. A joint is used to join two pieces of tubing. A petri dish is a small shallow dish of thin glass or plastic with a loose cover used especially for cultures in bacteriology. A reaction vessel is a vessel that contains a chemical transformation or change. A separatory funnel is a funnel used for the separation of media. Stirring rods are a piece of hollow or solid glass tubing used to stir materials or used to spread media on a petri dish. Stoppers are used to plug the opening of the listed labware. A test tube is a plain or lipped tube usually of thin glass closed at one end and used especially in chemistry and biology. Volumetric flasks are used to make up a solution of fixed volume very accurately. Watch glasses have all kinds of uses. They are concave "dishes" that can be used as beaker lids; to hold protists and other invertebrates for viewing under a microscope; or to dissolve materials such as crystals and powders. There are also many other unlisted types of labware that can be included.
The most important specification for plastic and glass labware is the volume of the specific piece under consideration. Plastic labware can be one of many types of plastics. These include, Ethylene propylene (EPDM), fluoroelastomer (FKM) Neoprene, Nitrile (NBR - Buna-N), Nylon or polyamide, polyethylene (PE), polyphenylene sulfide (PPS), polypropylene (PP), Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), polyurethane or urethane, Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), and Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF). Glass labware can one of many types of glasses. These include fused silica, borosilicate glass, and quartz glass. Other materials may be available from specific suppliers.
