PMLS 2, CHAPTER 1

Laboratory Glassware

Beakers, tubes, pipettes, dishes and covers used for running tests and other products.

Thermal-Resistant Glass

Usually made of borosilicate glass with low alkali content, it is resistant to heat and thermal shock. It can be used to make beakers, flasks, and pipettes and is used when heating or sterilization by heat.

Brands of Thermal-Resistant Glass

Pyrex (Corning Glass Works, Corning NY) and Kimax (Kimble Glass Co., Vineland NJ)

Alumina-Silicate Glass

Composed of aluminum oxide and silicate, it has higher thermal resistance and durability than borosilicate glass. It is heat resistant, chemically stable (non-reactive), radiation resistant, and can be used for optical reflectors and mirrors, however it is more difficult to fabricate. It is used for high-precision analytical work.

Brand of Alumina-Silicate Glass

Corex (Corning)

Acid-Resistant and Alkali-Resistant Glass

Boron-free glass (also known as soft glass), it has less thermal stability than borosilicate glass. It is used when solutions with strong acid or alkalis are made.

Low-Actinic Glass

Amber-colored to reduce the amount of light transmitted through the glassware, it is used to store or process substances that are sensitive to light as medicine bottles.

Flint Glass

Soda-lime glass composed of silica, soda, and lime. It is the most common and least expensive type of glass and much less resistant to high temperatures, not chemically resistant, easy to melt and shape, and can release alkali into solutions. Examples are glass jars and glass windows.

Disposable Glassware

Are inexpensive glassware, reduces the need to clean glassware, and is used to make test tubes, pipettes, slides, Petri dishes, and specimen containers.

Containers and Receivers

Made of good-quality glass. They are not calibrated to measure or hold an exact volume, therefore are not as expensive compared to volumetric glassware.

Beakers

Wide, straight-sided cylindrical vessels made to be resistant to heat and chemicals. It is used for general mixing and reagent preparation.

Erlenmeyer Flasks

Made by a German Chemist in 1960, they are flat-bottomed, tapered, or conical body and has a narrow cylindrical neck. They are made of glass that is resistant to heat and chemicals and is used for preparing reagents, titration procedures, and storing solutions.

Test Tubes

Cylindrical tubes with rounded bottoms that comes in many sizes. They are used to hold solutions perform chemical reactions. The type of glass used depends on the intended use of the test tube.

Reagent Bottles

Used to store reagents, and may be made of glass or plastic.

Volumetric Glassware

Vessels calibrated to exactly hold or deliver the volume indicated in the glassware. They are more expensive than uncalibrated glassware.

TC Label

To contain a specified amount of substance

TD Label

To deliver a specified volume of substance

Capacity Tolerance

The allowable limit that the glassware could contain or deliver.

Volumetric Flasks

Flasks with a flat, round bulb at the bottom that tapers to a long neck on which the calibration mark is found. It is calibrated to contain a specific volume of solution and is used to prepare a specific volume of reagent or laboratory solution.

Graduated Cylinders

A long, straight-sided cylindrical piece of glassware with calibrated markings that may also be made of plastic or polyethylene. It is used to measure volumes of liquids when a high degree of accuracy is not essential; it is most calibrated to deliver.

Pipettes

A type of glassware to measure fluids marked with at least one or multiple graduation lines. It is filled by using mechanical suction or an aspirator bulb, calibrated to contain or to deliver a specified amount of volume from one vessel to another.

Blowout Pipette

The last drop of liquid in the pipette should be expelled into the receiving vessel.

Manual Pipettes

Volumetric Pipettes and Graduated Pipettes

Specialized Pipettes

Micropipettes and Capillary Pipettes

Volumetric Pipette

Also known as a transfer pipette, it is calibrated to deliver (TD) a fixed volume of liquid by drainage. It has a cylindrical bulb joined at both ends to narrow glass tubing. It has a single calibration mark etched around the upper suction tube. It is usually made of borosilicate glass.

Graduated Pipette

Also known as a measuring pipette, it is a straight piece of glass tubing with a tapered end and graduation marks on the stem separating it into parts. It is used when great accuracy in transferring liquids is less critical.

Mohr Pipette

A graduated pipette with graduation marks that end ABOVE the delivery tip.

Serological Pipette

A graduated pipette with graduation marks DOWN to the delivery tip. It is designed to be blown out mechanically.

Micropipette

A precise TC pipette with a single graduation line that needs to be completely drained and rinsed out with a dilution solution. It is used for small amounts of blood are needed.

Capillary Pipette

Inexpensive, disposable micropipette made of capillary tubing with a calibration line marking a specified volume. The measured liquid is delivered by positive pressure, as with a medicine dropper.

Automatic Micropipettors

Piston-operated device allowing for repeated, accurate, reproducible delivery of samples requiring measurement in small amounts.

Centrifuge

A device that uses centrifugal force or the force due to rotation to separate the particles in a suspension. It is most frequently used in processing blood to separate the serum or plasma.

Horizontal-Head

The cups or buckets holding the tubes of material swings from a vertical to horizontal position.

Fixed-Angle Head

The cups or buckets holding the tubes are held at a fixed angle usually at 45 degrees. It is used when rapid centrifugation of solutions containing small particles is needed.

Microhematocrit Centrifuge

A type of fixed centrifuge for spinning capillary tubes filled with blood for packaging red blood cells to obtain the hematocrit value. The centrifuge achieves a speed of 10,000 to 15,000 rpm (revolutions per minute).

Microcentrifuge (Microfuge)

A small, compact centrifuge used for small tubes between 0.2 mL and 2.0 mL.

Cytocentrifuge

A centrifuge that uses a vey-high torque and a low-inertia motor to spread monolayers of cells rapidly across a special slide for critical morphologic studies.

Ultracentrifuge

A centrifuge made to rotate at very high speeds reaching an acceleration of up to 1,000,000 g. This is used for the separation of small molecules like proteins and nucleic acids.

Refrigerated Centrifuge

A centrifuge with an internal temperature ranging from -15% to -25% during centrifugation protecting specimens from heat generated by the rotors of the centrifuge.

Balance

A device used to measure the mass or weight of reagents or in the preparation of standard solutions. It is also used to check the calibration of volumetric equipment.

Analytical Balance

Is used in the preparation of standard solutions that require very accurate measurement of the needed chemicals.

Top-Loading Balance

Usually electronic and self-balancing, it is used when analytical precision is not required, and large volumes of the reagent or solution is being prepared.

Capacity

The maximum load one can weigh

Accuracy

Dependent on the smallest mass one will be weighing

Resulution (Readability)

The smallest increment of weight that may be discernable

Microscope

An equipment used to view objects that are too small for the naked eye to see

Temperature-Controlled Units (TCUs)

Equipements used to provide a temperature-specific environment for samples to be tested or stored on

Water Baths

A TCU filled with heated water for incubation of samples or reagents at a specific temperature limited to 100 degrees Celsius.

Heating Blocks and Dry-Bath Incubators

TCU used to heat of cool samples and reagents without water. It provides rapid, even heating from 5 to 150 degrees Celsius.

Refrigerators

Used to store reagents, specimens, and blood components.

Freezers

Storage of certain reagents, patient sera, and specific blood components.

Ovens

Used in the laboratory to dry and sterilize glassware and to melt wax for histopathology

Microwaves

Is used in the laboratory for thawing or heating some solutions.

Thermometer

Used to monitor the temperature of temperature=controlled units. They should be calibrated, and quality control measures should be documented routinely.

Total Immersion Thermometer

Used to monitor freezers and refrigerators. The bulb must be completely immersed into the medium measured or exposed to the temperature being measured.

Partial Immersion Thermometer

Used for water baths and heating blocks. The calibration lines indicate the actual temperature when a specified portion of the thermometer is exposed to the temperature being measured.

Rotator

Used in serology laboratories to enhance the reaction between the serum and reagent. It is also used to keep cells or solutes suspended in a solution, wash suspended solids, or homogenize liquid phases.

Vortex Mixer

Used to mix the contents in a single test tube where the angle of contact and degree of pressure could be regulated for optimal mixing. The swirling motion of the liquid contents results in effective mixing and could be controlled by multiple touch sequence.

Spectrophotometer

An optical instrument commonly used in the chemistry laboratory to quantitate a substance in the blood by measuring the intensity of light relative to wavelength generated when the reagent reacts with the substance to be measured.