How To: Wash Laboratory Glass Apparatuses in the Chemistry Lab

Find out how everything in a chemistry lab works, from pipettes to burners to recrystallization to storage. You'll get precise instructions on how to work and perform certain scientific duties in the chem lab, whether it's chemical or just ordinary high school science.

Watch this video on how to wash laboratory glass apparatuses in the chemistry lab. Chemical stains are often cleaned up with acids, alkalis, or organic solvents. For example, the stain of azo dyes (Methyl Red and Methyl Orange) prepared can be easily dissolved in an alkaline solution.

Do not scrub the inside of volumetric glassware such as burettes, volumetric pipettes, measuring flasks, and conical measures with a brush. This could cause a volumetric disorder. Volumetric glassware should be rinsed repeatedly with tap water.

For the same reason, volumetric glassware should not be dried by heating. Wash off chemical stains with a brush and sodium hydrogen carbonate. Dissolve stains of organic substances with a small amount of ethanol. Pour the washing waste of ethanol into the specific waste container.

How to wash glassware:

1. Wash laboratory glassware with a brush and sodium hydrogen carbonate, and rinse well with tap water.
2. Next, rinse the glassware with a small amount of distilled water and dry.