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A splint (or spill or splinter) is a simple piece of equipment used in scientific laboratories. Splints are typically long, thin strips of wood, about 6 inches (15 cm) long and ¼ inch (6 mm) wide, and are consumable but inexpensive. They are typically used for tasks such as lighting
A splint (or spill or splinter) is a simple piece of equipment used in scientific laboratories. Splints are typically long, thin strips of wood, about 6 inches (15 cm) long and ¼ inch (6 mm) wide, and are consumable but inexpensive. They are typically used for tasks such as lighting bunsen burner
A Bunsen burner, named after Robert Bunsen, is a kind of ambient air gas burner used as laboratory equipment; it produces a single open gas flame, and is used for heating, sterilization, and combustion.
The gas can be natural gas (which is ma ...
s, as the length of the splint allows a flame to be lit without risk to the user's hand, should the burner flare back. Another use for splints are chemical identification of various gas
Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma).
A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or ...
es, and splints are also used to teach simple chemical principles in schools.
Use in chemical identification
Somegas
Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma).
A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or ...
es are hard to distinguish by sight or smell alone. For example, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen are all colourless and odourless. Several laboratory experiments are capable of producing relatively pure gas as an end product, and it may be useful to demonstrate the chemical identity of that gas. Burning splints or glowing splints can be used to identify whether a gas is flammable, whether it is oxidising, or whether it is chemically inert.
These tests are not safe for completely unidentified gases, as the energy of their explosion could be beyond the safe confinement of a fragile glass tube. This means that they are really only useful as a demonstration of a gas that is already strongly suspected, and so is known to be safe. In a high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
chemistry class, a typical use would be to show the presence of hydrogen (after electrolysis of water
Electrolysis of water, also known as electrochemical water splitting, is the process of using electricity to decompose water into oxygen and hydrogen gas by electrolysis. Hydrogen gas released in this way can be used as hydrogen fuel, or remi ...
, or by reacting a metal
A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...
with an acid).
Burning (or lighted) splint test
A splint is lit and held near the opening of the tube, then the stopper is removed to expose the splint to the gas. If the gas is flammable, the mixture ignites. This test is most commonly used to identifyhydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic ...
, which extinguishes with a distinctive 'squeaky pop' sound. Hydrogen is easily ignited and used to definitively conclude what the gas actually is. Further analytical chemistry
Analytical chemistry studies and uses instruments and methods to separate, identify, and quantify matter. In practice, separation, identification or quantification may constitute the entire analysis or be combined with another method. Separati ...
techniques can clarify the identity of the gas in question.
Glowing splint test
The glowing splint test is a test for an oxidising gas, such asoxygen
Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as ...
. In this test, a splint is lit, allowed to burn for a few seconds, then blown out by mouth or by shaking. Whilst the ember at the tip is still glowing hot, the splint is introduced to the gas sample that has been trapped in a vessel.
Upon exposure to concentrated oxygen gas, the glowing ember flares, and re-ignites to produce a sustained flame. The more concentrated the oxygen, the faster the wood burns, and the more intense the flame. This test is not specific for oxygen, but will react similarly for any oxidising gas (such as nitrous oxide
Nitrous oxide (dinitrogen oxide or dinitrogen monoxide), commonly known as laughing gas, nitrous, or nos, is a chemical compound, an oxide of nitrogen with the formula . At room temperature, it is a colourless non-flammable gas, and has ...
) that supports the combustion of the splint.
See also
*Flame test
A flame test is an analytical procedure used in chemistry to detect the presence of certain elements, primarily metal ions, based on each element's characteristic flame emission spectrum (which may be affected by the presence of chloride io ...
* Spill vase
A spill vase, or spill holder is a small cylindrical vase or wall-hanging vase for containing splints, spills, and tapers for transferring fire, for example to light a candle or pipe from a lit fire. From the documentary record, they probably dat ...
References
External links
* * * {{Laboratory equipment Laboratory equipment Articles containing video clips