EXPERIMENT 1

Safety Rules and Laboratory Equipment

Outcomes
After completing this experiment, the student should:

1. Be able to recognize the importance of safe lab practices.

2. Know all safety rules required to perform experiments in a safe environment.
3. Identify basic equipment and glassware used in chemistry laboratory.

Introduction
The study of chemistry is a fundamental part of any science curriculum. Because chemistry has developed
largely through experiments, the study of chemistry is increased by laboratory experiences that
demonstrate, clarify, and develop still further the principles of chemistry discussed in the classroom. The
laboratory environment differs considerably from the outside world. The lifestyle in the laboratory is
much more structured than your lifestyle at home, or even in the classroom. Certain rules of safety and
“housekeeping” must be followed at all times. Moreover, you must adopt correct procedures for using
glassware and other pieces of equipment.

Safety Rules
Work in a laboratory should be a safe experience. It will be safe, however, only if the following safety
rules are followed without exception.

1. Locate the safety equipment. Find the eye wash fountains, safety showers, fire extinguishers,
fire blankets, first aid kit, and all exits that are to be used in an emergency.
2. Protect your eyes. Wear goggles at all times. Prescription eyeglasses, if you need them, must
be worn under goggles. Unless your laboratory instructor allows contact lenses, you should
not wear them.
3. Tie long hair back. This precaution will keep your hair out of burner flames and harmful
liquids.
4. Wear shoes that cover all of your feet. Broken glass on the laboratory floor is all too
common. Your feet will need more protection than that afforded by open-toed shoes or
sandals.
5. Wear clothes that cover most of your body. Good clothing can be protected with a laboratory
coat. Remember lab coat is required in this lab. You may not be allowed to work in the lab
without a lab coat.
6. Do not eat or drink in the laboratory and do not taste any chemical.
7. Do not smell chemicals directly. Use your hand to waft the odor to your nose.
8. Do not pipet solutions by mouth. Use a rubber suction bulb or special pipette filler.
9. Do not put flammable liquids near an open flame.
10. Do not engage in games in the laboratory.
11. Do not do or watch unauthorized experiments.
 12. Do not work in the laboratory in the absence of your laboratory instructor or his or her
authorized representative.
13. Use a fume hood when required.
14. Handle glass tubing with care. When tubing (including glass thermometers) is to be inserted
through a rubber stopper, the tubing must be lubricated with water or glycerol. Hold the
tubing with a cloth or a paper towel near the end that will be inserted, and use a twisting
motion during insertion.
15. Be aware of your neighbors. Are they obeying the safety rules? A neighbor’s accident may
not hurt him or her, but it may injure you. Report any unsafe behavior of your neighbor to
the lab instructor.
16. Wash your hands before leaving the laboratory.
17. Tell your laboratory instructor about an accident or a spill immediately no matter how minor
it is.
18. Do not violate any other safety rules given in this manual or issued by your laboratory
instructor.

Housekeeping Rules: Good housekeeping in the laboratory will lead to pleasant

surroundings. In addition, it will provide a safe work site in which you may be assured that chemicals are
not contaminated. Following rules must be followed.

1. Clean up broken glass immediately with a broom and a dustpan. Do not use your hands.
Special containers may be provided for disposal.
2. Clean up solid and liquid spills immediately, but only after checking with your laboratory
instructor about possible safety hazards.
3. Do not pour any chemical into a sink without authorization. Often, disposal bottles will be
provided.
4. Take containers to the stock of chemicals. Do not bring stock chemicals to your laboratory
table.
5. Read the label on a bottle carefully. Is it the correct chemical?
6. Do not insert a pipet or medicine dropper into a stock bottle. Avoid contamination by pouring
the liquid into one of your test tubes, flasks, or beakers before taking a sample.
7. Use special care with stoppers or tops of stock bottles. Do not allow them to pick up
contamination. Your laboratory instructor may provide additional instructions for handling
the stoppers or tops found in your laboratory.
8. Take no more of a chemical than the experiment requires.
9. Never return an unused chemical to a stock bottle. You must assume that the chemical is
contaminated. It must be discarded.
10. Set up your glassware and apparatus away from the front edge of your laboratory bench.
11. Follow any other housekeeping rules given by your laboratory instructor.
I have read, I understand, and I will follow the above rules.

Student Name: _______________________________________

Signature: _________________________________________ Date ____________________

Common Glassware and Equipment
You will be using different types of glassware in this laboratory. The use of certain pieces of glassware is
described below.

Volumetric Glassware
Graduated cylinders, transfer pipets, Mohr pipets, burets and volumetric flasks are used to make
volumetric measurements. This glassware must always be cleaned before use. Liquids must drain without
leaving drops adhering to the inner walls of the glassware.

Graduated Cylinders
A graduated cylinder is used to measure an approximate volume of a
liquid but is more accurate than beaker and Erlenmeyer flask. When
water or an aqueous solution (a solution with water as solvent) is added,
the upper surface of the liquid in the graduated cylinder will be
concave. This concave surface is called a meniscus. The bottom of the
meniscus is used for all measurements. To avoid error (called parallax
error), your eye should always be level with the meniscus when you are
measuring the volume. Graduated cylinders come in many sizes, but 10
mL, 50 mL, and 100-mL are often found in general chemistry
laboratories. Graduated cylinders

Pipets
Transfer and Mohr pipets are required for
many of the experiments in this laboratory
course. A transfer pipet is calibrated to
deliver one and only one volume, whereas
a Mohr pipet is graduated so that it can
deliver any volume (usually to the nearest
tenth of a milliliter) up to its maximum
volume. Transfer pipets come in many
sizes, but 5-mL, 10-mL, and 20-mL pipets
are usually found in general chemistry A transfer pipet A Mohr pipet
laboratories. Mohr pipets are commonly (variable volume)
(fixed volume)
restricted to 1, 5, and 10-mL volumes.
Remember that you must never use your mouth for suction even if you are filling the pipet with water,
always use the rubber suction bulb!

Micropipets have the same function as a Mohr pipet, but uses an

internal plunger mechanism to draw in and dispense liquids.
Micropipets allow for the repeated and accurate delivery of the same
volume. They come in different sizes, typically dispensed volumes can
vary from 5 or 10 microliter (μL) to as much as 5 or 10 mL. Some
models have a single fixed delivery volume, while others have
adjustable volumes within a certain range.
A micropipette
The correct use of a pipet requires considerable manual dexterity. This is not an inherited skill but one
that comes only with practice.

Burets
The principal use of the buret is for titrations. Precise titrations require
burets that drain freely, are very clean, and do not leak around the stopcock.
The following three steps will help you to have a buret that operates
correctly.

1. The capillary tip of the buret should be clean and free of foreign
objects. A thin wire can sometimes be used successfully to dislodge
grease or dirt that impairs or prevents draining.
2. If water droplets are left on the inner walls of the buret after draining,
the buret needs a thorough cleaning. It should be cleaned with hot
water, detergent, and a buret brush; then it should be rinsed with tap
water. Finally, it should be rinsed with distilled water.
3. Some maintenance is required if the stopcock or valve leaks while
the buret is draining or if drops form on the capillary tip when the
stopcock is turned off. Teflon stopcocks or valves do not require Burets, buret stands and
lubrication. Leaking can usually be prevented by tightening the clamps
tension nut, which seats the stopcock more firmly.

The clean, properly operating buret should be held in place by a clamp, preferably a buret clamp, which is
attached to a ring stand. Before you fill the buret, you should rinse it couple of times with the solution that
will eventually be in it. To rinse place a funnel in the top of the buret and pour about 3 to 5 mL of the
solution through the funnel into the buret. Remove the funnel and take the buret from the clamp.
Carefully tip the buret on its side while holding it with your hand. Do not allow the solution to spill, but
tip the buret until the solution comes in contact with almost the entire length. Rotate the buret in your
hand so that the inner walls are rinsed completely with the solution. Drain the buret through the stopcock,
discard this portion of the solution, and repeat the entire rinsing procedure two more times.

If you are using the buret for the first time, examine its markings before you fill it. The lines that span the
entire circumference occur for each milliliter, starting with zero at the top and reaching the maximum
volume at the bottom of the buret. As a consequence, the buret will show the volume of a liquid that has
been delivered rather than the volume that remains. The smaller lines indicate each tenth of a milliliter.
The spacings between these lines will allow you to estimate the volume to the nearest 0.01 mL. Thus
typical buret readings would be 9.34 mL and 17.60 mL. Readings such as 9.3 mL and 17.6 mL are not
acceptable.

Fill the buret to above the zero mark with the stopcock closed. Open the stopcock fully so that the liquid
drains rapidly to flush out air bubbles in the tip of the buret. Drain the buret until the meniscus rests
between the zero and l-mL marks. Do not waste time trying to align the bottom of the meniscus with the
zero mark. Read the buret with your eye on the same level as the meniscus. To obtain the volume of the
liquid that you use in a titration, subtract this reading from the final reading.

When using the buret, use both hands: one to open or close the stopcock or valve, and the other to swirl
the flask. With a bit of practice, you will be able to adjust the stopcock or valve so that as little as half a
drop will form on the capillary tip.
Volumetric Flasks
Volumetric flasks are used to make solutions of an accurately
known total volume. You are likely to encounter 10 mL, 50
mL, 100 mL, 250 mL, 500 mL, and even 1 L flasks, used to
make solutions of accurately known Molarity. For instance, a
certain mass of a solid chemical can be quantitatively
transferred to the flask. The flask is then carefully filled
exactly to the mark with distilled water, the flask is stoppered
and inverted a number of times until all solid is dissolved and
the solution has been mixed well. We can then calculate the
Molarity of the solution. In other experiments, we may use a
transfer pipet to transfer a certain amount of solution of
known Molarity to the flask, again fill the flask to the mark,
stopper and invert to mix. The Molarity of the solution in the Different size volumetric flasks
flask can then be calculated from the dilution equation,
M 1 V1 = M 2 V2 . The accuracy of the volume depends on the size of the flask. Typically for a 250 mL
volumetric flask the accuracy of the volume is ±0.1%

Balances

In the laboratory, you may use different types

of balances, depending on the accuracy
needed. The modern electronic balances used
in our laboratories can have sensitivities of
0.1 mg (± 0.0001 g), 1 mg (± 0.001 g), or 10
mg (± 0.01 g). Your laboratory instructor will
provide details about the operation of the
balances in your laboratory. You should be
able to achieve the maximum precision
offered by your balance almost immediately.
An analytical A top-loading balance
balance
Other Commonly Used Glassware
and Equipment
The “Erlenmeyer” or “conical flask” is used for titrations and many other situations
where we have to handle liquids. It is not suitable
for measuring accurate volumes.

The Büchner funnel is used to collect the final

product of a laboratory synthesis process. It is
used together with an aspirator that draws a
vacuum thereby pulling the liquid through the filter paper while the
pure solid product is Büchner funnels Erlenmeyer flask
collected on the filter.

Glass funnels are used to fill burets, larger funnels together with folded or
fluted filter paper are used to filter impurities or product from solutions.

Glass funnel