Sciencemadness Discussion Board - home lab work area. amateur question

home lab work area. amateur question

Layton - 7-6-2016 at 13:14

I started to get curious about chemistry. I found online the ilustraded guide to home chemistry experiments by O'Reilly Media. So i have question regarding the work area, just to see if is possible to have a lab. I own an apt, with three rooms, i was thinking use one of the rooms for the home lab. the same room will be use for storage also.

Right now since i have no prior experience in the subject. i dont know if choosing a room is a good choice, i hope so.

my second question is simple: how much money is the average spent on a decent home lab?

apologies for any inconvenience, including my english.

myristicinaldehyde - 7-6-2016 at 13:22

Well, best choose the room farthest from the kitchen! Chemistry can be messy, and dangerous. Cost of a lab depends very much on what you plan to do. I spent $200 USD for organic glassware, but you can get a set of good beakers for under 50.

Layton - 7-6-2016 at 13:35

Quote: Originally posted by myristicinaldehyde

Well, best choose the room farthest from the kitchen! Chemistry can be messy, and dangerous.

The room that i choose is in front of my room (the one that i use to sleep)
does that will bring me any problems, or dangers?

aga - 7-6-2016 at 14:10

Yes.

ficolas - 7-6-2016 at 14:27

Its better if you use a garage, something with a door direct to the outside, and even better if that outside is your garden. If you can get good ventilation, you can use a room in a house, but in an apartment, where other people live close to you... I wouldnt like my neighbord to be liberating something like chlorine throught the windown, you know, opening the windowns and then a odour to chlorine in the whole house... not something many people like.
It depends on what you make obiously, but for a room in a 3-room apartment where you live, you cant make many things there.
However with no prior experience in the subject, you shouldnt be making dangerous stuff (unless you mess up)

j_sum1 - 7-6-2016 at 14:41

In order of importance...

Ventilation
Mop-up-ability
Discrete
Bench space
Water and drainage
Storage space

Items on the list might slide up and down a bit depending on exactly what chemistry you will be doing. Precipitation reactions in test tubes will be a bit more forgiving than gas production or high temperature smelting.

Layton - 7-6-2016 at 16:12

the good thing, its that i live in a rural area where no one knows anything relate to chemistry or even Science. the room that i was planing to use have 2 windows, but right now i dont know if i should continue with the lab...

Thanks for the information, guys.

[Edited on 8-6-2016 by Layton]

Layton - 7-6-2016 at 16:17

Oh, what if i use only non toxic chemicals, does that help? Remember that i have windows, to ventilate.

myristicinaldehyde - 7-6-2016 at 16:43

Quote: Originally posted by Layton

Oh, what if i use only non toxic chemicals, does that help? Remember that i have windows, to ventilate.

Well, baking is chemistry without toxins! What would you define as toxic? Hexavalent chromium, sulfuric acid, dichloromethane and iodine are all toxic, but in different ways. But what kind of chemistry do you do?

Deathunter88 - 7-6-2016 at 22:24

Quote: Originally posted by myristicinaldehyde

Quote: Originally posted by Layton

Oh, what if i use only non toxic chemicals, does that help? Remember that i have windows, to ventilate.

Hexavalent chromium, sulfuric acid, iodine should be OK since they are not very volatile, dichloromethane might pose more issues but remember it is common in paint stripper and so can be used with ventilation.

woelen - 8-6-2016 at 05:05

Even in an apartment you can do quite some chemistry. Some suggestions:
- work in micro scale. Even gases like chlorine and H2S can be experimented with if they are made in test tube quantities (1 test tube full of gas is just a few tens of mg, well below inhalable lethal dose, even for very toxic stuff like Cl2) with the windows open. You yourself, however, must be somewhat tolerant to temporary bad smells.
- Perform mainly inorganic chemistry. Inorganic chemistry usually can be done in plain water, or in mineral acids. In that way you have no frequent exposure to volatile organic solvents. Inorganic chemistry is less smelly anyway.
- Buy yourself a good set of test tubes, some syringes, small (25 ml) beakers and erlenmeyers, and some stoppers with thin 6 mm PVC tubing. Using these small things you can do many many interesting experiments at micro scale, even with more toxic chemicals. You also produce small amounts of waste and hence will not need a lot of space for storage of that.
- A small (NS14) distillation setup is nice, but not something to start with. It is quite expensive. First try chemistry with simple test tubes and beakers and see of you really like it and want to continue.
- Buy yourself a large number of chemicals in small amounts. Better buy 10 difference chemicals, 25 grams each, than buy a single chemical, 250 grams. On eBay you can find many chemicals in small quantities here: http://www.ebay.nl/itm/Choice-100-Chemical-Samples-Test-Tube...
Combine a lot of them in one buy.

Another thing to take into account is that if you experiment occasionally, then you may get exposed occasionally. This is quite different from having exposure every day, for 8 hours per day. MSDS documents are written with the latter situation in mind (e.g. industrial workers) and they may look very scary. If you are lightly exposed to e.g. chloroform vapor three times and then not at all anymore, then there is nothing to worry about. A worker, using this chemical every day, runs a much higher risk.

Summarizing: Experimenting in an apartment is possible quite well, but use common sense and know your limitations. Many interesting things can be done, but some things are off-limits.

[Edited on 8-6-16 by woelen]

Layton - 8-6-2016 at 17:28

I will look foward microscale chemistry. And will try to learn as much inorganic chemistry i can. Thanks

Layton - 8-6-2016 at 19:02

I will look foward microscale chemistry. And will try to learn as much inorganic chemistry i can. Thanks

CRUSTY - 9-6-2016 at 12:53

I was able to do a pretty good set of syntheses and reactions on about $20, which was spent on Erlenmeyer flasks, test tubes (and, of course a rack with stoppers). I've also used polyethylene tubing a lot and glass capillary tubes. That setup lasted me for quite a long time, until I moved up to the bigger stuff like condensers, burettes, and multi-necked flasks. I've got lots of different compounds, but I have a couple in bulk. These include 1 kilo of potassium nitrate, 1 kilo of sulfur powder (which I actually ended up with by mistake; at least it's pretty much a lifetime supply

), and a liter of 8.7M hydrochloric acid. Again, I've got lots of chemicals, but those are just the ones I have in bulk. It's pretty easy to do chemistry on a low budget, although it can be a bit restrictive.

I set a small area up in my basement for my lab setup, and built my own fume extractor using a 2-speed AC fan I removed from an old microwave, which ha so far worked fantastically well. I live out in the country, so if I am working with any particularly toxic gases, I'll just run the reaction outside with a fan blowing on it. For electrolytic reactions and electrolysis, I use a 6/12V car battery charger. I store and label everything I keep in HDPE vials.

Along with that, I own a 3M full-face respirator and particulate filters, organic vapor filters, and multi-gas filters, the latter of which I use quite often. That respirator has probably been the piece of equipment that I use more than anything else.

In the end, for me at least, it comes down to how much you can improvise on a budget. Chemistry can be easy on a low budget, but you've gotta be creative.