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How to clean chemistry glassware
- getwiththeprog 3y agoFinally got the dishes done properly today, thanks Rochester!
- dylan604 3y agoI came here hoping for a "dishes are done" reference
- showerst 3y agoIt's interesting to me how concentrated HF is just universally acknowledged as one of the 'big bads' of chemistry labs. I've run into "Yes HF works here but SERIOUSLY DON'T" in so many different contexts and processes. Sounds like a lovely thing to keep a nice distance from!
- cgearhart 3y agoIt makes the list of Things I Won’t Touch https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/things-i-won-t-touch-1 https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/things-i-won-t-tou...
- water-data-dude 3y agoLooks like it’s actually the first “Things I Won’t Work With” article he wrote, which seems about right: https://www.science.org/topic/blog-category/things-i-wont-work-with?pageSize=20&startPage=1 https://www.science.org/topic/blog-category/things-i-wont-wo...
- tomwphillips 3y agoWhen I was a PhD student, my group were given a lab next door to our main lab. During the clear out we found a bottle of HF at the back of a cabinet. Vividly remember us crouching down to look at it all saying “nope, not touching it!”. Department technicians, understandably, weren’t willing to take it off us. In the end I think our PI got the previous lab owner to deal with it.
- refurb 3y agoI remember the story of the Australian student working with concentrated HF. He was sitting at a hood and knocked the container over into his lap. About a liter. He was rinsed off but eventually the pain become so bad he jumped into the university swimming pool and stayed there until EMS arrived. They ended up amputating both legs. He died anyways. Bad stuff. I never worked with the concentrated stuff.
- teruakohatu 3y agoApparently it was a technician and it was 100-250ml. Scary stuff. https://www.uvm.edu/cosmolab/safety_manuals/Fatality%20due%20to%20acute%20HF%20exposure.pdf https://www.uvm.edu/cosmolab/safety_manuals/Fatality%20due%2...
- jgamman 3y agoweird - can't find anything from an australian source about this
- hutzlibu 3y agoI would work with all that stuff, but only remote controlled. I guess one day this will be indeed standard, but as of today, (useful) robots that could do it, are way more expensive than humans ..
- throwup238 3y agoIt’s also unfortunately crucial to a number of different industries ranging from uranium and rare earth metal mining to semiconductor fabrication. It’s the reason for many a superfund site.
- purpleflame1257 3y agoAcidic peroxide solution is also known commonly as piranha solution. You can clean silicon wafer by dropping them in. Any organic residue is toast, however.
- foobarian 3y agoSounds enticing for cleaning burned baking dishes! I tried with concentrated NaOH and that didn't work so I need more extreme solutions.
- barrkel 3y agoOven cleaner is a better bet.
- cowthulhu 3y agoThat seems like a terrible idea on many levels. Will definitely make for some fun anecdotes though (assuming nothing goes wrong). Also - I don’t know if I’d want to eat anything cooked on a baking dish exposed to so many toxic chemicals. I assume you’re not joking, but this was a major whoosh if you were!
- foobarian 3y agoWell, I was not. I keep thinking there has got to be a way to dissolve the black, caked on oil resins, and so far I haven't found a solvent that works. I tried the relatively harmless stuff found around a household; the more aggressive being the lye solution, brake cleaner, acetone, citric acid, muriatic acid (i.e. HCl but relatively weak). Sibling has a good point to try more heat, which should be easy to try since the object is stainless steel.
- cowthulhu 3y agoGotcha! I don’t mean to dunk on you… sounds like a cool project if you take appropriate safety precautions, but the possibility of accidentally creating some poisonous (or carcinogenic) substances seems pretty high. I’m far from and expert though. I might have a low risk tolerance, but I would toss any cookware touched by, like, half of the chemicals you listed. Don’t want to find out the hard way that some nasty layer of something is slowly leaching into my food. If you do move forwards with this, definitely write up your findings... "Removing burnt food with piranha solution without dying" will make a great blog post.
- rubicks 3y agoEx-undergrad-assistant in a organic synthesis lab, here. I am extremely familiar with glass cleaning procedures, having done it nearly daily for one long semester. Base bath is how you clean glassware. The base bath was a _saturated_ solution of KOH (potassium hydroxide) in a 10-gallon PTFE (molded "teflon"). You knew it was saturated by the KOH precipitate at the bottom. You take your "dirties", making absolutely sure they had no residual acid on them, and ever so slowly, ease them into the bath. 24 or 36 hours later, remove them and repeat with the next batch. After a few dozen cycles, you have to change out the base for fresh stuff. For that, you needed a face shield, shoulder gloves, and extremely steady hands. Tedious, dangerous work.
- kragen 3y agowhy can't you siphon the base bath instead of having extremely steady hands i'm also sort of surprised this treatment doesn't corrode the glass. i guess borosilicate holds up to things that would ruin soda-lime glass
- rubicks 3y agoYou probably could, assuming you had ptfe tubing (we didn't) but then controlling the flow velocity is harder. Heat of dissolution is real.
- kragen 3y agoptfe tubing is cheap but i was thinking a borosilicate siphon i don't think you'd have any heat of dissolution involved with a siphon never done this tho, sounds scary
- smegsicle 3y agohate to be the one to prime the siphon
- kragen 3y agomaybe prime it with water?
- jmwilson 3y agoUsing Alconox (mentioned on the page, and easily found on Amazon) is one my tricks when I absolutely need sparkling clean dishes or containers. Not the best choice for the environment, and too sudsy to use in a dishwasher, but amazingly effective.
- lbotos 3y agoAre you using one of these? https://www.alconox.com/product/alconox/ https://www.alconox.com/product/alconox/ https://www.alconox.com/product/alcojet/ https://www.alconox.com/product/alcojet/ Their sheet says "biodegradable" so was curious about enviro impacts from your vantage
- sseagull 3y agoLooking at the data sheets, seems to have phosphates in it, which are questionable for the environment: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphates_in_detergent https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphates_in_detergent
- thaumasiotes 3y ago> which are questionable for the environment Our industrial chemicals are highly toxic and kill whatever exists near the runoff: "this has to be carefully regulated." Our industrial chemicals are highly nutritious and cause spontaneous blooms of life near the runoff: "this has to be banned."
- fbdab103 3y ago+1 to Alconox. That stuff is just amazingly effective. A little goes a long way, so if you buy a container, it can last you a long time.
- jeffrallen 3y agoNile Red got into a situation where some of his glassware was damaged by a reaction but mixed into his still good glassware. He decided to break it all to be sure! That's another cleaning strategy.
- gizmo686 3y agohttps://youtu.be/tGqVMbAQhBs?si=FAve6HjtEd9rjbZv https://youtu.be/tGqVMbAQhBs?si=FAve6HjtEd9rjbZv Notably, his concern was not that the glass was dirty, but that it was literally breaking. As in, spontaneously spill a beaker full of acid on the table breaking. The experiment he blames this on was using the beakers to contain hot plasma. The beakers came out looking fine, but probably suffered substantial thermal stress.
- jeffbee 3y agoFrustratingly familiar from my college days is the vagueness of these instructions. "Wear appropriate gloves." Such as? It is easier to write "wear butyl gloves." Even the MSDS for 6M HCl doesn't say "wear butyl gloves" it says "Select glove material impermeable and resistant to the substance." Like, duh. Is there a PPE lobbyist who prevents people from writing down concrete recommendations?
- nrdgrrrl 3y ago[dead]
- somat 3y agoA good point, a very good point. Too many procedures or guides are ruined by being vague on some minor yet critical point. Probably obvious the the writer but not to the reader. However I will note this guide specifically points out to use butyl gloves twice.
- gorlilla 3y agoBecause recommendations will vary by not only currently accepted practices, but also geographical variances in product availability. It's better to look at what you have on hand and cross-reference with up-to-date information. Much like most people won't simply know how dangerous it is to mix Nitrile gloves and Nitric Acid. When things can melt your skin, it's always good form to verify safety info at the time rather than just taking somebody's word for it, no? My 2 cents that is probably obvious anyhow
- jeffbee 3y agoNitrile gloves are quite useless against many common substances, including acetone, esters, acetic acid, and everything else with "acet" in the name. Aside from a few cases where nitrile works and others don't (some hydrocarbons, among others), there's usually something more protective.
- eternityforest 3y agoFor non chemists just working with standard commercial stuff(Epoxy, UV resin, grocery store cleaning chemicals, and that's about it), various sites and ads give the impression nitrile is "The good default thing you should use".... Good to know that's not always the case?
- onecommentman 3y agoWhy isn’t lab glassware, with few exemptions, a single use item? How can the human safety risks in cleaning, and the analysis risks from residual contamination be valued less than the cost of fresh equipment made of…glass. Really nice glass, but simply mass-produced objects made of silicon and oxygen. Just make some more. The 1970s Muppet Show US television program had a recurring segment on “Muppet Labs” with a hapless lab assistant named Beaker given silly and dangerous things to do by his boss. These cleaning processes sound like a Beaker bit. But the Muppet Show was a comedy…
- gizmo686 3y agoIf you are working in a lab that needs that level of cleaning, then odds are that what you do with the glass when you use it is also dangerous. There is a reason that the stereotypical chemist wears gloves, goggles, and a labcoat. Also, lab glass is more expensive than it looks. If you care about this level of cleanliness, then you likely also care about the precision of your glassware. And lab glassware comes in much more exotic and hard to make forms than beakers. You also might not be able to throw it away in the normal trash because it is contaminated with something hazardous.
- dylan604 3y agoYou're also not buying your equipment from Amazon either. I do some very very laughable to even calling chemistry, but I don't trust the crap on Amazon. At. All. I'm only working with sodium hydroxide and some oils, but I was even hesitant about buying stainless still from fear of knock off aluminum coated crap sold as stainless. For anyone wanting to play the home game thinking they can just have their supplies same day from Amazon, just don't
- jmwilson 3y agoA lot of it is not mass-produced (https://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-caltech-glassblower-20160613-snap-story.html https://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-caltech-glassb...). Even if you used brand-new pieces, for analytical work, you'd still need to clean them according to these procedures to remove residues from manufacturing, storage, and shipping.
- mmaunder 3y agoIn case anyone else wanted to cut to the chase - as in, what is the most badass, dangerous, corrosive and potentially deadly cleaning method: Hydrofluoric: Concentrated solutions of HF will remove just about everything from glass and will even etch the surface of the glass itself. It should not be used on calibrated volumetrics. HF causes severe, painful burns that do not heal well, and prolonged or intense exposure can lead to a very slow, painful death. It is not to be used by any students at Truman under any circumstances.
- thfuran 3y agoUsing HF to clean glassware is a bad idea. And as long as you're doing that, you might as well toss some antimony pentafluoride in the mix.
- throwup238 3y agoFun fact: dissolving yellowcake uranium in HF is the first step to uranium enrichment. It’s also used as a wafer cleaner in semiconductor fabs.
- eternityforest 3y agoChemistry is an amazing science and we probably need a lot more chemists.... But I'm sure glad I don't have to go near any of this stuff! Hard to believe there's any hobby chemists out there messing with mercury and stuff, handling most of these chemicals seems like something you'd only ever do for a huge salary or if you believed your work was going to save many lives.
- abid786 3y agoAs an organic chemist who became a software engineer, I’ll say that it’s more than just money (Or curing disease) that drives a lot of people. There’s just something inherently amazing about having the literal world supply of a compound that you made using your own hands (and the laws of nature). And in organic chemistry, there’s a bit of subjectivity and art too - designing compounds, designing a chemical route to synthesize them, etc.
- evrimoztamur 3y agoWhy did you become a software engineer in the end? You speak very highly of chemistry (as a software engineer who's flirting with the idea of going into chemistry).
- eternityforest 3y agoThat is pretty cool, it almost sounds like what drives ASM programmers, but even lower level than that. It doesn't seem to be 100% computerized yet, people still talk about doing real experiments where they expect to find something new about what they're studying, as opposed to just finding their own mistakes or reading about other people's discoveries. I'd imagine that's probably part of the appeal for some people, in tech so many of us almost never discover anything new that would be of interest outside that one specific project, except an occasional framework bug.
- mianos 3y agoI find glass fritted filters specially problematic when you can't even see inside the fritt. Maybe it's just me but I'd much rather a Buchner funnel with appropriate filter media. I really like the all-glass filter holders with the 24-40 ground glass bases instead of the gooch seals. The smelly rubber gooch seals seem to go to shit so quickly.
- pierat 3y agoNo pirhana water, I'm sad. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piranha_solution https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piranha_solution
- mynameisnoone 3y agoNo worries, NileRed has your s/back/weiner/: https://youtu.be/bO9rvqp49qg https://youtu.be/bO9rvqp49qg Also, magic acid feels left out of this exclusive Christmas party: https://youtu.be/pWB7oGbd8Yo https://youtu.be/pWB7oGbd8Yo
- mkatx 3y agoWhat's best for, say, my scientific glass bong? Seriously, what's safe and effective?
- wenebego 3y agoIsopropyl works well
- nomadluap 3y agoUse 99% isopropyl alcohol. Add in a teaspoon of table salt -- it won't dissolve in the alcohol and will act as a mild abrasive to help remove stubborn residue. Rinse thoroughly with water afterwards. If you're really serious about your cleanliness, a desktop ultrasonic cleaner is also amazing for cleaning bowls and downstems. You can get them for a few dozen dollars from Amazon and the like.
- 65a 3y agoAcetone, after removing all rubber seals, then rinse with alcohol and boiling water.
- trevyn 3y agoSoak in 95% ethanol overnight and then everything comes off with an easy wipe if you can get to it. Definitely safe, but I’m curious if these other solutions dissolve completely without a wipe?
- walthamstow 3y agoI can only get isopropyl alcohol to clean cannabis glass by quick and easy dissolution if I warm the glass and the alcohol beforehand. Warm 99% alcohol absolutely destroys cannabis waxes.
- mharig 3y ago'Orange cleaner' is very effective in this case. I make it by macerating orange peels in 95% ethanol.
- zem 3y agoi feel like this could be a fascinating series of youtube videos targeting the "oddly satisfying" niche. edit: should've known it would already be a thing :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utBxdlN7YFI&t=9s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utBxdlN7YFI&t=9s
- brazzy 3y ago> lachrymator One of my favourite words that I never expected to encounter in the wild! "something that makes you cry".
- mharig 3y agoAt U we used a saturated solution of KOH in Isopropanol.
- rex_lupi 3y agoI once had to work with some thio compounds. Infamous for their god-awful vomit-inducing smell. A labmate used to have migraine attacks if someone was working with them , in the fume hood. The glasswares, along with the spent disposables, gloves etc were dumped into bleach solution. Even after a full month soaked in bleach and whatnot, I could still smell the nasty odor from the beakers and flasks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiol
- hilbert42 3y ago”...the use of chromic acid is not recommended.” Whilst rightfully it's not fashionable nowadays, I can attest however that chromic acid cleans glassware remarkably well (once it was just about the only cleaner we used).
- Log_out_ 3y ago1 atom or molecule of catalyzator will given enough time render a reaction happy liquid inert. Sneeze at platinum near a hydrogen peroxide storage and within a week..
- spott 3y agoFor the chemists here, I have a question I’ve always been curious of. Would you eat/drink out of glassware that had been made “quantitatively clean”?