Alcohol burner

An aluminium alcohol burner
A glass alcohol burner

An alcohol burner or spirit lamp is a piece of laboratory equipment used to produce an open flame. It can be made from brass, glass, stainless steel or aluminium.[1]

Uses

Alcohol burners are preferred for some uses over Bunsen burners for safety purposes, and in laboratories where natural gas is not available. Their flame is limited to approximately two inches (5 centimeters) in height, with a comparatively lower temperature than the gas flame of the Bunsen burner.[2][3]

While they do not produce flames as hot as other types of burners, they are sufficiently hot for performing some chemistries, standard microbiology laboratory procedures, and can be used for flame sterilization of other laboratory equipment.[4][5]

Operation

The burner's flame is capped like a candle to extinguish it.
A small amount of liquid is boiling above the alcohol burner.

Typical fuel is denatured alcohol, methanol, or isopropanol.[2][6] A cap is used as a snuffer for extinguishing the flame.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Griffin, John Joseph (1838). "spirit+lamp" Chemical Recreations: A Compendium of Experimental Chemistry, Part 1. Glasgow: Richard Griffin and Co. pp. 17–21.
  2. 1 2 "Laboratory Burner Safety" (PDF). safety.ucanr.edu. University of California. 2007. Retrieved 2015-06-17.
  3. ↑ Braham, R (2002). "LOCAL JOINT HEALTH AND SAFETY COMMITTEE DEPARTMENT OF BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE" (PDF). ovc.uoguelph.ca. Retrieved 2015-06-17.
  4. ↑ "Low-tech Microbiology Tools". teach.genetics.utah.edu. Archived from the original on 2015-06-27. Retrieved 2015-06-26.
  5. ↑ "EQUIPMENT AND EQUIPMENT STERILIZATION PROCEDURES" (PDF). water.usgs.gov. U.S. Geological Survey. 1997. Retrieved 2015-06-26.
  6. ↑ "Alcohol Burner PDF" (PDF). ovc.uoguelph.ca. Retrieved 2015-06-17.


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