Tools in

Analytical Chemistry
WEIGHING

VOLUME MEASUREMENT

OTHERS
 Balances

Desiccator

Weighing bottles/boat
 ROUGH WEIGHING ACCURATE WEIGHING
Used when the weight is Used for laboratory work
not involved in the that needs accurate
computation of the measurement which must
analytical result and does generally be known to four
not require a high level of significant figures or better
accuracy. Rough weighing and used in calculating the
need not be done on analytical result.This is
analytical balances but performed only on an
may be completed on a analytical balance.
top-loading balance.
WEIGNING BY DIFFERENCE
 A clean and dry
container is placed on
the balance whose
mass is adjusted to
zero. The sample is
then transferred to
the container and the
mass is measured.

The container’s mass or the mass of the empty vessel is called the tare.
Most balances allow you to set the container’s tare to a mass of zero.
 Samples that absorb moisture
from the atmosphere are weighed
indirectly. These are hygroscopic
samples that should be placed in a
covered weighing bottle when
weighing. The combined mass is
first determined. A portion of the
sample is then removed, and the
weighing bottle with the
remaining sample is reweighed.
The difference between the
two masses gives the mass of
the transferred sample.
 Mechanical
Balance

Electronic
Balance
 Triple-Beam Balance
They are called triple-
beam balances because
they have three decades
of weights that slide along
individually calibrated
scales. The three decades
are usually in graduations
of 100g, 10g and 1g.
 Top-Loading Balance
This type of laboratory
balance is more sensitive
than a triple beam balance.
It usually can measure
objects weighing around
150–5000 g. It does not
have a draft shield, a plastic
or glass enclosure.
 An analytical balance has a maximum
capacity that ranges from 1 g to several
kilograms. It is very sensitive that even
air currents can affect the
measurement. To protect against this it
must be covered by a draft shield, a
plastic or glass enclosure with doors
that allows access to the pan.
Leveling feet are adjustable legs that allow the balance to be brought to the
reference position. The reference position is determined by the spirit level,
leveling bubble, or plumb bob that is an integral part of the balance.
A macrobalance is the most common type of
analytical balance, and it has a maximum load
of 160 to 200 g and a readability of 0.1 mg.

A semimicroanalytical balance Readability (also called

has a maximum load of 10 to 30g precision) is the smallest
and a readability of 0.01 mg. increment of mass that can
be indicated. A readability
A microanalytical balance has a of 0.1 mg means that the
maximum load of 1 to 3 g and a balance is sensitive up to 4
readability of 0.001 mg, or 1 μg. decimal places (0.0000 g)
 This is the modern version of
the ancient Egyptian scales.
This type of laboratory scale
incorporates two pans on
opposite sides of a lever. The
object to be weighed can be
placed on one side and
standard weights are added to
the other pan until the pans are
balanced. The sum of the
standard weights equals the
mass of the object.
Weighing bottle -
glass laboratory
equipment used
for precise
weighing of solid

Weighing boat -an open container, often

disposable, used for weighing samples
A desiccator is an airtight container which maintains an atmosphere
of low humidity through the use of a suitable drying agent.
A drying agent, called a desiccant, is placed in the bottom of
the container. Typical desiccants include CaCl2 and silica gel.
0.5 – 1% of the liquid bring transferred from a measuring
cylinder sticks to the side walls of the measuring cylinder.
 When making a reading in any volumetric glassware, your eye
should always be level with the meniscus to avoid parallax error.

A meniscus is the curved surface

of a liquid at its interface with
the atmosphere.

Parallax is the apparent

displacement of a liquid level or of a
pointer as an observer changes
position. Parallax occurs when an
object is viewed from a position that
is not at a right angle to the object.
 Classification of glass pipets
I. Design
A. TC pipet
B. TD pipet
II. Drainage characteristics
A pipet is an elongated A. Blowout
glass bulb with two B. Self-draining
narrow glass stems at III. Type
the top and bottom of A. Measuring or graduated pipet
the bulb. It is a a. Mohr pipet
laboratory instrument b. Serological pipet
that is used to transfer B. Transfer pipet
volume of liquid. a. Volumetric pipet
b. Ostwald-folin pipet
 TC or TD abbreviated for “to contain” and “to deliver” respectively.

In a ‘TC’ pipet, the contained quantity of the liquid

corresponds to the capacity printed on the pipette.

In ‘TD’ pipet, the delivered quantity of liquid corresponds to the capacity

printed on the pipet. The drainage holdback error (the amount of liquid
required to wet the inner surface of the pipette and the remaining liquid
left at the tip of pipette after it has been used) has already been taken
into account during calibration at a standard temperature.

The “ex” is used to indicate that the pipet has been adjusted “to deliver” and the
marking “in” is used to indicate that the pipet has been adjusted “to contain”.

Unlike the TC pipet, the last drop of the TD pipet should not be blown out.
Touch the tip of the pipet to the side of a beaker
and drain the liquid until the bottom of the
meniscus just reaches the center of the mark.
Touching the beaker draws liquid from the pipet
without leaving part of a drop hanging when
the liquid reaches the calibration mark.

The formal difference between the blow out pipet

“adjusted to deliver” and pipet “adjusted to contain”
may be small (since blowing out the remaining liquid
is possible in both cases), but it does make a
difference when it comes to the achieving the
accurate result of an experiment.
 The pipet is calibrated to deliver
10 mL of solution with an
tolerance/uncertainty of ±0.02 mL at
a temperature of 200C. The
temperature is important because
glass expands and contracts with
changes in temperatures; thus, the
pipet’s accuracy is less than ±0.02 mL
at a higher or a lower temperature.
 A transfer pipet is designed to transfer a
fixed amount of liquid when filled to the mark.
There is generally only one "fill-line”.

Ostwald-folin pipet has

The volumetric pipet bulb closer to the
has bulb located at delivery tip and the last
the middle and the drop should be blown
residual liquid is out. It is used for
never blown out of a accurate measurement
volumetric pipet. of viscous fluids, such
as blood or serum.
A measuring or graduated pipet is used to measure a variable volume.
This pipet has no base mark and the graduations continue onto the tip.

A serological pipet has A Mohr pipet has calibration

calibration marks that marks that do not extend to the
extend all the way to the tip. tip but at a point above the tip.
 The serological pipet can
either be TC or TD pipet.

The double rings on the upper end

of a pipet indicate that the pipet is
a “blow out” type/TC pipet and
should be blown using a rubber
bulb. Absence of the ring indicates
that pipet is a TD pipet.

The serological pipet is blown out if it has a frosted band or two thin rings.
Micropipetor

Handheld Eppendorf micropipets deliver

adjustable microliter volumes of liquid.
The buret is a volumetric glassware which is
used for accurate dispensing of variable
liquid reagent in a titration.

At the tip of buret, there is a stopcock and

valve to control the flow of the chemical
solution. The barrel of the stopcock can be
made of glass (acid buret) or rubber tube
(base buret) or polytetrafluoroethylene
(PTFE or teflon buret).
Teflon buret Acid buret Base buret
 It is helpful to use black tape on a white
card as a background for locating the
precise position of the meniscus. Move the
black strip up the buret to approach the
meniscus. The bottom of the meniscus turns
dark as the black strip approaches, thus
making the meniscus more easily readable.

Because volumes are determined by subtracting one reading from another,

the important point is to read the position of the meniscus reproducibly.
 A volumetric flask is a flat-bottomed flask with a narrow neck .
It is used to measure very precisely one specific volume of solution.
This flask is used to prepare a solution of known concentration.

These are manufactured with capacities ranging from 5 mL

to 5 L and are usually calibrated to contain (TC) a specified
volume when filled to a line etched on the neck.
ü Christian, G. (2014). Analytical Chemistry, 7th ed. USA: John Wiley & Sons.
ü Harris, D. (2016) Quantitative Chemical Analysis, 9th edition. New York: W.H.
Freeman and Company.
ü Harvey, D. (2016) Analytical Chemistry 2.0. Electronic version
ü http://edusanjalbiochemist.blogspot.com/2012/11/pipettes-and-its-types.html
ü https://www.westlab.com.au/blog/2017/07/19/what-is-the-difference-between-
td-and-tc-pipettes
ü Skoog et al. (2014). Fundamentals of Analytical Chemistry, 9th edition. Canada:
Brooks/Cole Publishers Company.