A view of the home laboratory

The laboratory had been set up during the nation wide lockdown, with chemicals either sourced from daily life, or from my father. As can be seen, I have procured test tubes, cylinders, glass rods, reagent bottles and so on.

The most difficult aspect of maintaining a laboratory is to keep records. It's often brushed off as unimportant, yet I assure you, it's one of the most important aspects of maintaining a lab. It helps you keep track of your reagents, apparatus, experiments conducted and most importantly, helps you keep the laboratory neat.

Coming to the equipment, most of them have been sourced from my father's office. However, there are objects of daily use which we throw away without thinking twice, and more often than not, they serve as valuable equipment. For instance, if you notice the top left corner of the picture, you'll note a stack of plastic ice-cream cups, which I use as beakers. Hair oil and other such bottles can be used for storing liquids, and the glass jars of various medications can be used for storing reagents. For solids, I usually use Zipper bags unless they are deliquescent. A small plastic spoon is used as a spatula, and plastic straws from various packaged juices can be used as delivery tubes. Various plastic bottles are used for storing liquids.

A lot of experiments demanded the use of a source of current. For this, I procured an old DC adaptor of 12V, snapped of the end, and exposed the bare wires. For electrodes, I usually prefer graphite, sourced from exhausted AA batteries. However, I have also used a 9V battery in certain cases.

The 12V DC adaptor, initially used to power a set top box.

Often, experiments dictate solids to be melted. For this, I procured a stainless steel ladle used for cooking, thoroughly degreased it with soda solution, and dried it over a domestic LPG flame. For heating liquids that are combustible, I used a water bath comprising water in a steel utensil and an induction stovetop, and placed the liquid in a test tube in it.

Chemistry is not just an academic subject, it is a very constructive way to spend time. The fact remains, however, that it can be extremely dangerous too. But if you follow all guidelines, who knows, one day you might be the chemist your country looks for!