Glovebox

A glovebox is a sealable plastic box that can be isolated from atmospheric conditions. It has openings to which special gloves are fastened, through which a chemist can manipulate glassware and apparatuses inside the box.

Uses

Gloveboxes are very useful for an amateur chemist. First, they provide a compact, autonomous alternative to fume hoods when experimenting with toxic volatile compounds, such as hydrofluoric acid. A glovebox does not require bulky ventilation and electricity, it is easily mobile, one can perform the experiments, then carry the glovebox outside and open it there, exposing it to the wind and decontaminating it safely.

Second, a glovebox allows experimenting with substances hypergolic with air in an inert atmosphere. It can be filled with nitrogen or argon.

Third, a glovebox allows experimenting with certain radioactives, including most alpha-active isotopes, because both the box itself and the gloves provide adequate shielding from alpha radiation. Some gloveboxes are specially made for experimenting with radioactives and offer extra radiation shielding; such gloveboxes can be used to experiment with nearly any radioactives.

Safety

However, there is a hazard gloveboxes pose which fume hoods do not. Buildup of explosive gas mixtures, such as hydrogen and oxygen, or hydrogen and chlorine, is dangerously easy in a glovebox if you don't know what you are doing. In this case, a glovebox may explode.

A mad scientist with good enough technical skills can modify a glovebox, adding a simple system of forced ventilation to it, connected with the outdoors through rubber or silicon tubing, to which one can attach the box or detach and re-seal it. Such a device will remove this disadvantage of the glovebox and provide it with all advantages of a fume hood.