Wash bottle
Encyclopedia
A wash bottle is a squeeze bottle
with a nozzle, used to rinse various pieces of laboratory glassware
, such as test tube
s and round bottom flasks.
Wash bottles are sealed with a screw-top lid. When hand pressure is applied to the bottle, the liquid inside becomes pressurized and is forced out of the nozzle into a narrow stream of liquid.
Most wash bottles are made up of polyethylene
, which is a flexible solvent-resistant petroleum-based plastic. Most bottles contain an internal dip tube allowing upright use.
Wash bottles may be filled with a range of common laboratory solvents and reagents, according to the work carried out in that lab. These include: deionized water, detergent
solutions and rinse solvents such as acetone
, isopropanol or ethanol
. In biological labs it is common to keep sodium hypochlorite solution in a wash bottle to conveniently disinfect unneeded cultures.
As is always the case when transferring reagents between containers, for safety always ensure the label on the wash bottle matches the contents of the bottle, and do not mix reagents or return them to the original container. Additionally, wash bottles are not appropriate for long term storage and must never be used for dangerous reagents. Volatile liquids such as acetone or methanol require a bleed hole to reduce dribbling - often a vent is integrated into the top of the internal straw.
Squeeze bottle
A squeeze bottle is a type of container for dispensing a fluid, that is powered by pressure exerted by the user's fingers. Its fundamental characteristic is that manual pressure applied to a resilient hollow body is harnessed to compress fluid within it and thereby expel the fluid thru some form of...
with a nozzle, used to rinse various pieces of laboratory glassware
Laboratory glassware
Laboratory glassware refers to a variety of equipment, traditionally made of glass, used for scientific experiments and other work in science, especially in chemistry and biology laboratories...
, such as test tube
Test tube
A test tube, also known as a culture tube or sample tube, is a common piece of laboratory glassware consisting of a finger-like length of glass or clear plastic tubing, open at the top, usually with a rounded U-shaped bottom....
s and round bottom flasks.
Wash bottles are sealed with a screw-top lid. When hand pressure is applied to the bottle, the liquid inside becomes pressurized and is forced out of the nozzle into a narrow stream of liquid.
Most wash bottles are made up of polyethylene
Polyethylene
Polyethylene or polythene is the most widely used plastic, with an annual production of approximately 80 million metric tons...
, which is a flexible solvent-resistant petroleum-based plastic. Most bottles contain an internal dip tube allowing upright use.
Wash bottles may be filled with a range of common laboratory solvents and reagents, according to the work carried out in that lab. These include: deionized water, detergent
Detergent
A detergent is a surfactant or a mixture of surfactants with "cleaning properties in dilute solutions." In common usage, "detergent" refers to alkylbenzenesulfonates, a family of compounds that are similar to soap but are less affected by hard water...
solutions and rinse solvents such as acetone
Acetone
Acetone is the organic compound with the formula 2CO, a colorless, mobile, flammable liquid, the simplest example of the ketones.Acetone is miscible with water and serves as an important solvent in its own right, typically as the solvent of choice for cleaning purposes in the laboratory...
, isopropanol or ethanol
Ethanol
Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid. It is a psychoactive drug and one of the oldest recreational drugs. Best known as the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, it is also used in thermometers, as a...
. In biological labs it is common to keep sodium hypochlorite solution in a wash bottle to conveniently disinfect unneeded cultures.
As is always the case when transferring reagents between containers, for safety always ensure the label on the wash bottle matches the contents of the bottle, and do not mix reagents or return them to the original container. Additionally, wash bottles are not appropriate for long term storage and must never be used for dangerous reagents. Volatile liquids such as acetone or methanol require a bleed hole to reduce dribbling - often a vent is integrated into the top of the internal straw.