obviously located at our secret island base but what we can do is give you a
nerdy tour of our equipment and give you some tips on how to build your own lab
let's start at the start safety first it's easy to be safe you need goggles
ours are polycarbonate ones from a hardware store then we have light
plastic gloves for normal use and heavy gloves for handling concentrated acids
and similar chemicals remember that gloves aren't a permanent barrier if you
get something toxic on them then stop take them off and replace them
without measurement there is no science we have accurate scales but you would be
surprised how often we simply use a good pair of kitchen scales like these for
weighing these are accurate to the nearest gram only most of the time you
can get away with slight excesses of reagents without a perfect stoichiometric
ratio next is heating we strongly recommend
you don't use naked flames for heating we have to heat sources
on the left our hot plate stirrer and on the right the heating mantle which
fits the 500 ml flask but works just as well for 250 ml flasks as well
if you're serious then we recommend making the investment and getting a
proper hot plate just be sure to go all the way and get one with built-in
stirring as well when you buy it make sure you get a few
different sizes of magnetic stirred bars as well
we have three different sizes of magnetic stir bars as well we have three
small medium and large you can see from the color which sees the most front line
action sometimes you want a strong but steady
temperature so for this we recommend the DIY oil bath we use a metal pot filled
with unscented baby oil for this which works well
okay now on to the sexy stuff glassware again it's really important to be able
to accurately measure
we use two measuring cylinders 125 ml and one 100 ml
beakers we tend to use smaller beakers more than the larger ones but we have an
assortment of sizes
we've also got a few conical flasks which we find useful for more volatile
solvents but in reality most of the time you can substitute with a beaker
now for flasks we mainly use five hundred and two hundred fifty
ml round bottomed flasks occasionally 100 ml flasks are useful try to get
ground glass ones if you can't we have two of each of these but do occasionally
break so worth keeping spares as you can see we used some metal baking
dishes as holders which worked great
multi neck flasks are very useful but are hard to find we have a 500 ml one and a liter one shown here for baking
very large reactions. Just remember to have stoppers so that you can seal off the necks
that are unused.
As far as ground glass goes, we have a few different adapters mostly for distillation
as you can see here. The most important thing is to standardize on one joint size so that
you can interchange and fit anything together. We choose 29-32 mainly because this is what
is available. This is a European size however and if you are in the US you might 24-40 is
easier to get hold of. The 3 adapters here are what we use most of the time for distillation.
For distilling you'll need a lead big condenser. Again you can see that the joint size is the
same. We also find that an elastic band works well on the end of the condenser to help secure
the receiving adapter.
We do also have some plastic KEK clips. However in practice they don't last long as they are
quite heat sensitive and slowly weaken over time. We tend to use these only when really
necessary.
For distillation you will also need a source of cooling water. We use a bowl and an aquarium
water pump. Just choose the cheapest and lowest power one as this should be enough. You don't
want too much pressure
We also use some silicone tubes which fit very well with the condenser glass and don't easily
come off. Obviously one end of one of the tubes needs to fit snugly over the water pump.
To do distillation you also need thermometer adapters so you can record the temperature of the
vapors. Note that the rubber seals on these are useless and rapidly degrade. We find that PVFE
plumber's tape is handy. We also use some silicone tubes which fit very well with the condenser glass
the tight fit.
And obviously you'll need thermometers.
We have two glass ones for distillation.
One goes up to 200 degrees C and the other 400.
We use the former most of the time.
We also have an electronic thermometer which is very useful and you'll see it a lot in
our videos for oil and water baths.
We have a few other useful ground glass adapters, gas takeoffs, stoppers, the thermometer adapters
that you've already seen, and also some conversion adapters just in case we need to convert from
one joint size to another.
Many reactions call for reflux where the solvent constantly boils and condenses.
You can use a lead big condenser for this, but it's not very efficient.
Prefer to use a specialized coil condenser as you can see here.
Just keep your eyes peeled and buy one when you find one.
Many modern ones come with plastic inlays for water, but we prefer glass as the silicone
tubes we use for cooling water adhere to the glass and create a tight fit.
A separating funnel is a very useful piece of equipment.
We use a 500 ml one for everything.
You also need a good quality stopper, preferably Teflon, and also a ring clamp for it to safely
stand in.
Just handle with care and take extra care when washing.
Also useful is a funnel with a ground glass adapter, an addition funnel.
We do have a very sexy pressure equalized addition funnel, but we did manage to pick
this old style one up second hand for around $10.
It's our preferred joint size.
All ground glass, and could also double as a separating funnel.
Do remember though that there's no way to use ground glass without the right stands
and clamps.
Ours are second hand and very worn out, but still do the job well.
We recommend two bases, two poles and at least three clamps.
Try to find at least one clamp where the grip can extend all the way down to holding a thermometer.
Many stop short of this and so aren't as useful.
You're going to be doing a lot of filtering.
Filtering will be your life.
So you need at the very least a glass funnel and some good quality filter papers, preferably
reinforced.
Beyond this you will need a vacuum filtration system.
Aside from a vacuum pump, you need a thick glass filtration flask, ours is 500 ml volume.
You also need a rubber pump.
A filter stopper with a hole in it.
And then a funnel or glass centers.
The centered funnel shown here is the one we use most of the time and as you can see
it has a porosity grade of 3, which is what you want for most situations.
To filter using a vacuum and regular filter paper you'll need a porcelain book nerd funnel
like the one on the right.
Be warned that your filter paper size will need to fit it exactly though.
The glass center on the left we picked up second hand for next to nothing.
It's got a broken glass tube, but still works great and we decided to give it a loving home.
It has a porosity grade of 4, which means that it filters much slower but can handle
finer precipitates such as a nanoparticle copper powder we produced in another video.
We picked up our filtration kit whilst we were on an overseas trip, and smuggled it
back.
Space and business trips to unusual locations can be useful for stocking your lab.
Once you've filtered you'll want to store your product.
We've got a couple of fancy ground glass weighing containers, but mostly we just small glass
jars like the one on the left.
Liquids are trickier, especially reactive or highly volatile ones.
We are lucky enough to have about 10 of these pro quality 100 mil Duran storage containers,
and we've got some of the 250 mil ones on the left.
But even these aren't good enough for some liquids, for example ethyl iodide.
They escape over a few months.
The best tip we can offer is pick up a load of these small sealable plastic jewel bags.
They are great for storing small amounts of dry solids.
Finally some miscellaneous but useful stuff.
Glass rods.
Glass tubes.
Spatulas.
Test tubes.
Ironically we don't use test tubes very often yet they remain the iconic symbol of chemistry.
Pipettes for dropping liquids are useful.
Petri dishes are also very useful for evaporating solutions and for weighing solids.
Universal indicator paper.
Stop boiling cabbages and get yourself some of this.
It's really important and you'll see we use it quite a lot.
Some reactions require strong heating so we have a small 30 mil porcelain crucible.
And a larger steel pot which we obtained from a metal food shaker.
And very important.
Get yourself a large stack of paper towels.
Just go to the dollar shop and buy a big bag of the cheapest nastiest ones you can find.
This is a lab.
Not first class.
Then finally, you need chemicals.
We can't give you any sources.
tips, but we source a surprising number of useful chemicals from commonly available sources.
Just keep digging and checking labels and seeing what you can find.
Also go online and search for small suppliers.
Food and baking products are a great resource, and you will be surprised what interesting
things you can find.
Like this pure dry food grade crystalline aniline for example.
And that's it.
Our lamp fits into a medium sized kitchen cupboard.
Not a huge amount of equipment, but an infinite number of possibilities.
As always, we hope this was useful.
Thanks for watching and stay tuned.
Subtitles by the Amara.org community