A wash bottle is a

squeeze bottle A squeeze bottle is a type of container such as a plastic bottle for dispensing a fluid, that is powered by squeezing the container by exerting pressure with the user's hand. Its fundamental characteristic is that manual pressure applied to a r ...

with a

nozzle A nozzle is a device designed to control the direction or characteristics of a fluid flow (specially to increase velocity) as it exits (or enters) an enclosed chamber or pipe. A nozzle is often a pipe or tube of varying cross sectional area, a ...

, used to rinse various pieces of

laboratory glassware 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 anal ...

, such as

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 and closed at the bottom. Test tubes are usually placed in s ...

s and

round bottom flask Round-bottom flasks (also called round-bottomed flasks or RB flasks) are types of Laboratory flask, flasks having spherical bottoms used as laboratory glassware, mostly for chemistry, chemical or biochemistry, biochemical work. They are typicall ...

s. 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 to be undertaken. 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 disinfect unneeded cultures.

Colour codes on wash bottles

There are a consistent set of colour codes and markings used to identify the contents of wash bottles. Red is used for

acetone Acetone (2-propanone or dimethyl ketone), is an organic compound with the formula . It is the simplest and smallest ketone (). It is a colorless, highly volatile and flammable liquid with a characteristic pungent odour. Acetone is miscib ...

, White for

ethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl ...

sodium hypochlorite Sodium hypochlorite (commonly known in a dilute solution as bleach) is an Inorganic chemistry, inorganic chemical compound with the chemical formula, formula NaOCl (or NaClO), comprising a sodium cation () and a hypochlorite anion (or ). It may ...

distilled water Distilled water is water that has been boiled into vapor and condensed back into liquid in a separate container. Impurities in the original water that do not boil below or near the boiling point of water remain in the original container. Thus, di ...

, green for

Methanol Methanol (also called methyl alcohol and wood spirit, amongst other names) is an organic chemical and the simplest aliphatic alcohol, with the formula C H3 O H (a methyl group linked to a hydroxyl group, often abbreviated as MeOH). It is a ...

, yellow for

isopropanol Isopropyl alcohol (IUPAC name propan-2-ol and also called isopropanol or 2-propanol) is a colorless, flammable organic compound with a pungent alcoholic odor. As an isopropyl group linked to a hydroxyl group (chemical formula ) it is the simple ...

and blue for

Safety

Safety warning labels are also used to identify potential hazards. Where reagents with high

vapour pressure Vapor pressure (or vapour pressure in English-speaking countries other than the US; see spelling differences) or equilibrium vapor pressure is defined as the pressure exerted by a vapor in thermodynamic equilibrium with its condensed phases ...

are used such as ethanol or methanol, small pressure release holes are incorporated into the cap to release and excess vapour pressure and avoid material being ejected through the nozzle when not in use.

Advantages

The use of wash bottles helps researchers control and measure the precise amount of liquid used. In addition, unwanted substances or particles cannot pass through wash bottles. The use of wash bottles is more convenient than using beaker and graduated cylinders.

Storage of Wash Bottles

Wash bottles are typically kept on the laboratory bench in a secure way so that they can be easily located and so that they do not interfere with other work taking place. Such containment may be by the use of two ring clamps which have similar size attached to a lattice rod.

Types

Different types of wash bottles are suitable with different types of substances. A spiral gas-lift wash bottle, for example, is suitable for eliminating gas with the liquid system having two phases like bromide and water. In addition, a Simple graduated wash bottle helps determine the amount of liquid used. A type of strong solvent and a type of destructive substance can be dealt with Nalgene Teflon FEP wash bottles since the special type of plastic is used to produce this type of wash bottles.

Gallery

A hole of wash bottle lids 20170217 162022.jpg, A hole wash bottle lids necessary for acetone and methanol. Clearer wash bottles 20170217 162200.jpg, The back of wash bottles with labels for indicating types of substances inside.

References

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