General Laboratory equipment, their Use and Instrumentation

The Light Microscope

The microscope employs a hollow, extremely intense cone of light concentrated on the specimen. The field of view of the objective lens lies in the hollow, dark portion of the cone and picks up only scattered light from the object. The clear portions of the specimen appear as a dark background,

and the minute objects under study glow brightly against the dark field. This form of illumination is useful for transparent, unstained biological material and for minute objects that cannot be seen in normal illumination under the microscope.

AUTOCLAVE

The autoclave is effective equipment used for steam sterilization at pressures above the atmospheric pressure. Thus, it is possible to steam at higher temperature than the boiling point, which a lot of microorganisms cannot withstand. Autoclave is the most effective method for sterilizing culture media. When sterilizing culture media with autoclave, we do so at 1.05Kg per square centimeter for 15 minutes to ELIMINATE contamination.

REFRIGERATOR

This is used to preserve samples, reagents etc, which are used for daily analysis and cannot be exhausted at once. The refrigerator helps provide optimum environment for materials to be preserved.

ATOMIC ABSORPTION SPECTROPHOTOMETER (AAS): This equipment is used to determine the presence of different metals in a sample and the concentration at which the metal is present.

FUME HOOD

This is a cupboard in the lab where some works are been carried out due to the nature of the work or resulting effect of the work.

HEATING MANTLE

This is a heating apparatus used in for heating in the lab.

pH METER

This equipment used in measuring the pH of different sample.

VISCOMETER BATH

This equipment used in determining the viscosity of a liquids.

SPECTROPHOTOMETER

This equipment is used to determine the absorbance and concentration of a given sample.

WEIGHING BALANCE

This is a delicate instrument used for weighing essential, reagent, stains and culture

Media that requires adequate weighing

PETRI DISH

Used for the preparation of culture media. It is usually bought sterilized. The disposable type cannot used a second time while the glass ware type can be reused be usually sterilized by autoclaving. 

FORCEPS

A pair of forceps is a metallic object used for handing hot object or contaminated materials. It is sterilized by flaming red hot. 

Others include:

Other Laboratory equipments includes syringe, cotton wool, hot plate (dryer), hand gloves, capillary tubes, test tubes, bottles, water bath, weighing balance, microscope, pipette, beakers

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