This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Laboratory flask is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
Laboratory flasks are vessels (containers) which fall into the category of laboratory equipment known as glassware. In laboratory and other scientific settings, they are usually referred to simply as flasks. Flasks come in a number of shapes and a wide range of sizes, but a common distinguishing aspect in their shapes is a wider vessel "body" and one (or sometimes more) narrower tubular sections at the top called necks which have an opening at the top. Laboratory flask sizes are specified by the volume they can hold, typically in metric units such as milliliters (mL or ml) or liters (L or l). Laboratory flasks have traditionally been made of glass, but can also be made of plastic.
At the opening(s) at top of the neck of some glass flasks such as round-bottom flasks, retorts, or sometimes volumetric flasks, there are outer (or female) tapered (conical) ground glass joints. Some flasks, especially volumetric flasks, come with a stopper or cap for capping the opening at the top of the neck. Such stoppers can be made of glass or plastic. Glass stoppers typically have a matching tapered inner (or male) ground glass joint surface, but often only of stopper quality. Flasks which do not come with such stoppers or caps included may be capped with a rubber bung or cork stopper.
Flasks can be used for making solutions or for holding, containing, collecting, or sometimes volumetrically measuring chemicals, samples, solutions, etc. for chemical reactions or other processes such as mixing, heating, cooling, dissolving, precipitation, boiling (as in distillation), or analysis.
List of flasks
There are several types of laboratory flasks, all of which have different functions within the laboratory. The most common types of flask are:
 Erlenmeyer flask or conical flask. |
 Round-bottom flask — a flask with a spherical body and one or more necks with ground glass joints. |
 Retort — a spherical vessel with a long downward-pointing neck. |
 Florence flask — a flask with a round body and one longer neck without a ground glass joint. |
 Büchner flask or sidearm flask — a thick-walled conical flask with a short hose-connection tube on the side of the neck. |
 Volumetric flask — for preparing liquids with volumes of high precision. It is a flask with an approximately pear-shaped body and a long neck with a circumferential fill line. |
 Dewar flask — a flask with a hollow space in the wall to hold a vacuum. |
Legal Issues
Like many other common pieces of glassware, Erlenmeyer flasks could potentially be used in the production of illegal narcotics. In an effort to restrict such production, some U.S. states (including Texas) have begun requiring permits to purchase such glassware, including Erlenmeyer flasks, as well as chemicals identified as common starting materials. Memorandum of Understanding between the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (PDF)
|
||||||||||||||||
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 2 October 2008, at 13:43.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Laboratory flask".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.