Laboratory glassware refers to a variety of equipment used in scientific work, and traditionally made of glass. Glass can be blown, bent, cut, molded, and formed into many sizes and shapes, and is therefore common in chemistry, biology, and analytical laboratories. Many laboratories have training programs to demonstrate how glassware is used and to alert first–time users to the safety hazards involved with using glassware.
Three beakers, an Erlenmeyer flask, a graduated cylinder and a volumetric flask
Late 17th-century laboratory glassware in the painting by Cornelis de Man (National Museum in Warsaw).
Brown glass jars with some clear lab glassware in the background
An Erlenmeyer and a filtering flask. Note the barbed sidearm on the filtering flask.
Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, properties, behavior and the changes they undergo during reactions with other substances. Chemistry also addresses the nature of chemical bonds in chemical compounds.
Image: Sulfur sample
Image: Sal (close)
Laboratory, Institute of Biochemistry, University of Cologne in Germany
Solutions of substances in reagent bottles, including ammonium hydroxide and nitric acid, illuminated in different colors