For each experiment, it is critical to use the proper laboratory apparatus. It’s important to know whether to use an electronic or manual pipette for a specific experiment, as well as which scales to use. These are the questions you should be able to answer before carrying out the experiment.
Before even thinking about conducting an experiment, one should be familiar with the uses of laboratory equipment. For both analyzing and medical purposes, a syringe is one of the most important and precise tools in the laboratory.
Syringes are small, manual pump devices to use for injections, fluid removal, and irrigation. They are also used to collect blood and other bodily fluids for testing purposes. Syringes are useful for administering medications orally or through a feeding tube without the use of a needle.
A syringe, with a needle protruding from a long plastic body, is recognizable to most people. When people start a family, they may have to deal with a supply of needles to treat a family member’s medical condition. In this case, you’ll need to not only get over your fear of this small medical device but also learn how to use it.
Primary kinds of syringes
Most importantly, you should be aware that not all syringes are created equal. There are various designs to suit various purposes. Syringes are available in a variety of sizes and types. Most are disposable, and many come with a needle attached or no needle at all. You can choose the size of the syringe depending on the amount of medication it holds. Below are some main types of syringes.
- Plastic or disposable syringes
A plastic syringe is a cylindrical tool for a variety of purposes, including medicine, mechanics, arts and crafts, and refilling inkjet printer cartridges. This type of syringe delivers small amounts of the liquid via a needle, tube, or simply through the hole in the syringe’s bottom. A plastic syringe does not usually react to the materials that are placed inside it. As a result, they are ideal drug and chemical delivery systems for a wide range of applications.
This type of syringe is extensively common due to its low cost and ease of disposal. It is available with either a full plastic or rubber nozzle tip. The rubber plunger tip is superior to the metal plunger tip because it reduces fluid leakage past the plunger. Plastic syringes, while inexpensive, flex under pressure, resulting in volume inaccuracies of up to 5%.
- Glass syringes
A glass syringe is a glass barrel that contains a plunger. It is used to extract and inject fluids and glasses. Glass syringes come with a variety of tips, from vaccine needles to a wide tube for feeding baby animals.
A syringe pump is necessary for using this type of syringe. Unlike disposable plastic syringes, glass syringes are reusable and more accurate than other types of syringes. Ground glass, glass with a Teflon syringe tip, metal with a Teflon tip, and metal-only plungers are all options. The glass syringe costs more than the plastic syringe.
A glass syringe contains far fewer contaminants that will interfere with delicate cures. They may leach traces of certain metals into a medicine. However, these trace amounts do not react as badly with medicine as plastics do.
- Stainless steel syringes
Stainless steel syringes are the most durable of all syringe materials. High syringe pressures are likely when working with high flow rates and viscous samples. You might need a stainless steel syringe in these situations. In addition to their durability, stainless steel syringes have low volume errors and high chemical resistance.
Stainless steel syringes are typically more expensive than glass or plastic syringes and are only available in larger quantities. For these reasons, stainless steel syringes are typically ideal for use in high-pressure applications.
Different aspects of selecting a quality syringe
You can consider a number of factors when choosing a syringe tool. There are some key factors to consider when selecting a suitable syringe for your experiment or for medical purposes. The syringe varies depending on the needle size, needle gauge, and needle length.
- Syringe size
Syringes are classified according to the amount of liquid they can hold. They are measurable in two ways. For measuring liquid volume in milliliters (mL) or cubic centimeters (cc) for measuring solid volume In terms of volume, both measurements are equivalent. One cc is equal to one milliliter. If you’re going to administer large amounts of medication, you’ll need a large syringe. The same holds true for low-pressure flow.
- Needle sizes
At one end, there is a hub that connects to the syringe. Needles are available in various lengths and are measured in inches. They also differ in gauge size. The gauge sizes of thin needles are large. The needle tip has a bevel/slope to allow it to easily pass through the tissues. There are a few things to consider when selecting a needle for your syringe. They are as follows:
- Needle gauge
The thickness or diameter of the needle is measured using gauge sizes. When choosing needles by gauge size, consider the thickness of the skin or hide as well as the injection depth. The needle gauge is a series of numbers that indicate the needle’s diameter. The needle diameter increases as the number reduces. The gauge number increases as the needle width decreases.
Smaller numbers, on the other hand, denote a larger diameter or width. Larger gauges have thicker needle walls, making them stronger and more durable. Fine gauge needles (small diameter) are less painful for the patient and can accommodate medications with low viscosity. Needle gauges 26 and 27 are commonly used for standard injections – intradermal, subcutaneous, and intramuscular.
- Needle length
The length of the needles ranges from 3/8 inch to 3-1/2 inch. When deciding on the length of the needle, keep the injection site in mind. Some medications can be absorbed through the skin straightforwardly. Others will require injections into the muscle. Different injections have different needle lengths;
- Subcutaneous injections are administered into the fatty tissue just beneath the skin. The optimum needle length for subcutaneous injections is 12 to 5/8 inches.
- Intramuscular injections are injections that go straight into a muscle. The needle lengths for intramuscular injections should be 7/8 to 1-1/2 inches.
- Intradermal injections necessitate a needle length of 3/8 to 3/4 inches.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the keynote of this topic is to define the importance of syringes and their different aspects when selecting them. The syringes are an important tool that provides many uses either in laboratory assessments or in giving medicine shots to the patients. syringes come in different materials, including plastic, glass, and stainless steel. Plastic syringes are disposable and are inexpensive while glass syringes require a syringe pump to inject fluids. The syringe pump suppliers were producing quality pumps for the accuracy of glass syringes. Stainless steel is becoming common because of its durability. The syringes have several aspects that include syringe size and needle sizes that vary with different gauge sizes and lengths of the needle. Therefore, you cannot inject any type of sample without a syringe.
