Your laboratory glassware needs thorough cleaning because dirty items may produce erroneous results despite a carefully executed experiment. Both physical and chemical cleaning is essential for perfect results. More often, you must clean lab items bacteriologically or through sterilization.

The best way to clean is by wetting the surface of the glass consistently using distilled water. It is important for glassware needed for measuring liquid volume. You will find grease and other impurities that prevent the wetting of the surface. Without proper cleaning, the amount of residue sticking to the glass containers will affect the volume of liquid delivered. To learn more about cleaning laboratory glassware, keep reading this article.

Wash glassware quickly

You must wash these lab items as soon as possible. If you fail to do so, the residue will stick to the walls of the glass. In case, you cannot clean the glassware immediately, make sure you soak the items inwater.

Modern lab glassware, at least many of these, produces an alkaline reaction. For accurate lab testing, soak your glassware in acid water, usually a one percent hydrochloric or nitric acid solution before you start the standard washing process. Use wooden or plastic brushes to clean the glassware and avoid scratches and marks on its surface.

Getting rid of grease

Lab glassware grease is eliminated when you boil it in a dilute sodium carbonate solution. You can also use acetone or another fat solvent. Make sure you do not choose strong alkalis. You can get rid of silicone grease by soaking the glassware stopcock barrel or plug for two hours in warm decahydronaphthalene.

Next, you need to drain as well as rinse or make use ofseething sulfuric acid for half an hour. Make sure to rinse off all cleaning agents. You can learn more about lab equipment cleaning through meticulous research.

Sterilizing lab glassware

Often lab glassware becomes contaminated with blood clots, like culture media, serology tubes, and Petri dishes. Therefore, all glass containers in the laboratory need thorough sterilization before you clean and rinse. You can place all glassware in the lab in a large bucket or use a boiler full of water. Once you are through with it, add one or two percent of soft soap or for that matter detergent. Next, boil the water for about half an hour.

Thereafter, you can rinse the glassware in tap water, scrub gently with a detergent, and boil for about 30 minutes. Make sure you rinse the glassware, scrub the surface with a mild detergent, and rinse again.

Handling and storing glassware

You should handle and store lab glassware like pipettes, burettes, and cylinders carefully to prevent breakage. Wash and rinse these items carefully to avoid letting the tips hit the water tap or the sink.

When it comes to culture tubes, dry burettes and pipettes, and cylinders, store them safely. Hang these on wooden pegs or keep them in baskets with the mouths of the glassware downward, letting the items to dry in the air. Make sure dry temperatures do not exceed 140 degrees Celsius if you want to dry them in an oven.

Conclusion

Now that you know how to clean lab glassware, keep these items safe and store them carefully. Store the glassware in a dust-proof cabinet.