Equipment, laboratory improvised

For teaching of chemistry availability of good apparatus and well equipped laboratories is a must. However it should lead us to a wrong conception that teaching of science cannot be carried out in the absence of expensive apparatus. One of the reports by NCERT observes that from among various factors that stand in the way of science education in our country one is lack of adequate resources for laboratory building, purchase of good and adequate apparatus and equipment. This lack of funds and resources makes improvisation of apparatus almost a necessity in India. 

The main difference between MPLC and HPLC is not only in height of the performance, speed of the separation process, and the pressure required, but also in the instrumentation. A home made MPLC apparatus (Fig. 4.5.1) can be improvised in nearly every laboratory using, e.g., spare parts of amino acid analyzers or sugar analyzers. However, for the HPLC methods it is usually necessary to use commercial equipment or parts, because here the requirements of construction are much more rigid. For the separation of low and middle molecular weight substances HPLC methods are mostly used. 

When not busy with emergency improvisations, the CWS laboratory analyzed and described captured Japanese materials, such as gas masks and canisters, explosive charges, and flame throwers, brought in by men of the Philippine Chemical Depot. These analyses and descriptions were radioed to OCCWS, and samples of captured equipment were shipped to the United States. When surrender seemed inevitable, the CWS destroyed all remaining chemical materials. Colonel Hamilton and his surviving men were taken prisoner after the surrender of Corregidor on 6 May 1942 and remained in Japanese prison camps for the rest of the war. 

In September the first chemists arrived. The laboratories were not finished, there was no heat, and there was insufficient equipment. Yet, there were so many problems awaiting solution that chemists set up their apparatus on improvised benches while carpenters installed hoods and desks, plumbers laid gas and water lines, and electricians wired sockets. Shortly after the research center at American University opened, Manning organized it into eight sections Chemical Research, Physiological Research, Pyrotechnic Research, Chemical Manufacture, Mechanical Research, Submarine Gases, Dirigible and Balloon Gas, and Gas Mask Examination. ... 

For the analysis suitable equipment is necessary a source of direct current and a chamber for the electrophoresis itself, solutions of electrolytes, and chromatographic paper. The apparatus for electrophoresis is very simple and can be improvised in every laboratory. However, many kinds of both simple and more complicated apparatus are commercially available which are satisfactory for routine work with organic compounds. Figure 20 shows... 

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