Liquids pipets

An automatic pipet uses a button press to fill and discharge a defined volume of liquid. Pipets are always calibrated "to deliver."... 

Three important precautions are needed when working with pipets and volumetric flasks. First, the volume delivered by a pipet or contained by a volumetric flask assumes that the glassware is clean. Dirt and grease on the inner glass surface prevents liquids from draining evenly, leaving droplets of the liquid on the container s walls. For a pipet this means that the delivered volume is less than the calibrated volume, whereas drops of liquid above the calibration mark mean that a volumetric flask contains more than its calibrated volume. Commercially available cleaning solutions can be used to clean pipets and volumetric flasks. 

Second, when filling a pipet or volumetric flask, set the liquid s level exactly at the calibration mark. The liquid s top surface is curved into a meniscus, the bottom of which should be exactly even with the glassware s calibration mark (Figure 2.6). The meniscus should be adjusted with the calibration mark at eye level to avoid parallax errors. If your eye level is above the calibration mark the pipet or volumetric flask will be overfilled. The pipet or volumetric flask will be underfilled if your eye level is below the calibration mark. 

Finally, before using a pipet or volumetric flask you should rinse it with several small portions of the solution whose volume is being measured. This ensures that any residual liquid remaining in the pipet or volumetric flask is removed. 

A 25.00-mL sample of a liquid bleach was diluted to 1000 mb in a volumetric flask. A 25-mL portion of the diluted sample was transferred by pipet into an Erlenmeyer flask and treated with excess KI, oxidizing the OCh to Ch, and producing The liberated was determined by titrating with 0.09892 M NaySyOy, requiting 8.96 mb to reach the starch indicator end point. Report the %w/v NaOCl in the sample of bleach. 

The device most commonly used to measure volume in general chemistry is the graduated cylinder. A pipet or buret (Figure 1.8) is used when greater accuracy is required. A pipet is calibrated to deliver a fixed volume of liquid—for example, 25.00 mL—when filled to the mark and allowed to drain. Variable volumes can be delivered accurately by a buret, perhaps to 0.01 mL. 

Measuring volume. A buret (left) delivers an accurately measured variable volume of liquid. A pipet (right) delivers a fixed volume (e.g.. 25.00 mL) of liquid. 

Procedure. Pipette 25.0 mL standard (0.05M) iodine solution into a 500 mL conical flask and add 5 mL 2M hydrochloric acid and 150 mL distilled water. Weigh accurately sufficient solid sulphite to react with about 20 mL 0.05M iodine solution and add this to the contents of the flask swirl the liquid until all the solid has dissolved and then titrate the excess iodine with standard (0.1M) sodium thiosulphate using starch indicator. If the sulphite is in solution, then a volume of this equivalent to about 20 mL of 0.05M iodine should be pipetted into the contents of the flask in place of the weighed amount of solid. 

Step 3 - The pipet is reinserted into the liquid, resulting in apposition of the hydrocarbon tails of the attached monolayer to those of the original monolayer, forming a bilayer (27) ... 

Micro-pipetting instruments such as the "Eppendorf or "Oxford pipettors with disposable plastic cone tips are customarily employed to dispense the liquid samples into electrothermal atomizers. Sampling problems which are associated with the use of these pipettors are among the troublesome aspects of electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (67,75). The plastic cone-tips are frequently contaminated with metals, and they should invariably be cleaned before use by soaking in dilute "ultra pure nitric acid, followed by multiple rinses with demineralized water which has been distilled in a quartz still. 

Aqueous standard solutions are a source of certain difficulties In electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry of trace metals In biological fluids The viscosities and surface tensions of aqueous standard solutions are substantially less than the viscosities and surface tensions of serum, blood and other proteln-contalnlng fluids These factors Introduce volumetric disparities In pipetting of standard solutions and body fluids, and also cause differences In penetration of these liquids Into porous graphite tubes or rods Preliminary treatment of porous graphite with xylene may help to minimize the differences of liquid penetration (53,67) A more satisfactory solution of this problem Is preparation of standards In aqueous solutions of metal-free dextran (50-60 g/llter), as first proposed by Pekarek et al ( ) for the standardization of serum chromium analyses This practice has been used successfully by the present author for standardization of analyses of serum nickel The standard solutions which are prepared In aqueous dextran resemble serum In regard to viscosity and surface tension Introduction of dextran-contalnlng standard solutions Is an Important contribution to electrothermal atomic absorption analysis of trace metals In body fluids. 

Control urine should be collected from individuals who have no apparent past history of exposure to the active ingredient. This control urine must be stored frozen until used for field fortification purposes. The urine is then thawed, shaken well, and a certain amount should be aliquoted into a small jar/bottle to use for field fortification. The active ingredient is then added to the urine using a 1-mL volumetric pipet, the solution is shaken well, and the sample is immediately frozen. Occasionally, the fortified sample can be left at room temperature or at some lower temperature in a liquid state to simulate field storage during collection of the urine sample. After leaving the sample at such temperatures for the prescribed length of time, the sample is immediately stored frozen. 

One alternative method for preparing field fortifications solutions/suspensions is to prepare each fortification sample of each matrix in a separate mini-vial in the analytical laboratory and ship the vials to the field for use. This procedure precludes the use of pipets in the field and may be useful when Field Scientists not experienced in the use of pipets are involved in the field fortification process. One disadvantage of this procedure is that the mini-vials, if not designed correctly, will be hard to handle in the field, and surface tension of the suspension or fortification solution will tend to leave unacceptable amounts of the solution/suspension in the vial or at the lip of the vial and not on the matrix in question. This procedure may lead to cross-contamination of samples as the field fortification liquid is forced from the top... 

The pipet is designed to deliver an exact volume of liquid the volumetric flask is designed to hold an exact volume of liquid and the buret is designed to deliver precisely measurable volumes of liquid. (Not drawn to scale.)... 

Common containers for liquid measurements include cylindrical and conical graduates for quantities of 500 mL or less, pipets for quantities of one mL or less, and a medicinal dropper for still smaller quantities. The calibration and use of medicinal droppers is explained in Chapter 2. 

As with the weighing of solids on a prescription balance, there are limitations to liquid measuring devices as well. For example, assume that only one pipet having graduations from one to ten milliliters is available, and it is desired to measure one fluid ounce. In such a case, one ounce can be measured by measuring 10 mL three times. Measurement of volumes less than that of the... 

Explain how one can obtain 2 minims of a liquid concentrate using a 5-mL pipet with graduations from 1-5 mL in units of 0.5 mL, and a 100-mL measuring cylinder. Use water as a diluent. 

If the solute is a liquid (somewhat rare), the weight calculated from Equation (4.11) can, but rather inconveniently, be measured on a balance. However, this weight can also be converted to milliliters by using the density of the liquid. In this way, the volume of the liquid can be measured, rather than its weight, and it can be pipetted into the container. 

Bottle-top dispensers, often called Repipets , are quite popular. These are devices that fit on the top of reagent bottles threaded to receive screw caps. The dispensers themselves have screw caps that screw onto the bottles. The caps, however, are fitted with a hand pump with a plunger that draws liquid from the bottle in the upstroke and then dispenses a calibrated volume on the downstroke through a glass tip. Such devices are convenient and help prevent contamination of the reagent from the various pipets that the analyst might use for a transfer. 

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