In a laboratory, one of the most important aspects to be taken into account is sterilization. Be it experiments or examinations being carried out in the laboratory, contamination in any form can meddle with the results, thus reducing accuracy. If you traipse back to your high school physics books, you’ll remember that heat is commonly used to sterilize various objects. Heat has the power to kill harmful bacteria and invisible contaminants which could potentially reduce the purity of the lab equipment. Especially when we’re dealing with lab equipment like beakers, test tubes and petri dishes (items which are used and reused multiple times in a lab), sterilization is of the utmost importance. In a lab, hot air ovens are usually used for this purpose. Once their effectiveness was determined, laboratory hot air oven suppliers have ever since increased. Let’s see how they work and why you should use them.
What is a hot air oven all about?
A hot air oven utilizes dry heat. In most lab equipment, direct heat could cause cracks in the glass or ruin it altogether. In such ovens, the temperature is about 160°C; the items that require sterilization would have to be placed inside the oven for a period of about forty five to fifty minutes. Once that is done, the item is to be allowed to cool slowly. Otherwise, sudden fluctuations in temperature could cause the glass to break. Also, if you suddenly remove the item from the oven, you risk contamination as it would be coming into direct contact with air (containing germs and bacteria)Also it must be remembered that before you place the items in the hot air oven, you must ensure that they are completely dry.
Basically, hot air ovens work on the principle of conduction. According to this principle, the heat is at first absorbed by the outermost surface of the glass item. This heat is then passed from layer to layer of the item or the equipment in question. If there are germs and organisms present in the equipment, the dry heat would be oxidizing the molecules of the organism thus potentially killing it.
What containers may be used in a hot air oven?
The different kinds of lab equipment that can be sterilized in a hot air oven are:
Advantages of using hot air ovens
There are numerous benefits to using these hot air ovens. Here are some:
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