Bunsen Burner

The Bunsen burner, named after and co-designed by Robert Bunsen in 1854, is a common laboratory instrument that can be used to provide a single, continuous flame by mixing gas with air in a controlled fashion. The ratio of gas to air that is mixed together can be manually adjusted, allowing the user to control the intensity, temperature, and size of the flame. The flame can then be used to heat or sterilize laboratory reagents and equipment.

Metal instruments sometimes need to be quickly sterilized before use or between steps of an experiment. Metal spatulas and inoculation loops, for example, are frequently sterilized between bacterial samples. Scissors and forceps can be dipped into alcohol and then flamed for rapid sterilization before surgery.  Glass instruments, such as serological pipettes, are also frequently briefly flame-sterilized before and between each use.

The Bunsen burner flame can be used to help maintain a sterile field around the openings of experimental containers. By briefly flaming the neck of the container a heat, or convection, current is created. The convection current lifts any particles in the air away from the container’s opening, preventing potential contamination by airborne particulates. Convection currents also serve to lift particulates in the air away from the experimental area, so the Bunsen Burner helps to keep the area around the experiment, sterile. For microscopy, glass slides are sometimes passed through a Bunsen burner flame to remove any dust particles before samples are mounted.

The Bunsen Burner can be used to heat and modify glass and metal tools. A thin glass rod can be carefully heated and then bent while the glass is still hot, to make a bacterial culture spreader.  They also have applications for pulling pipettes, bending pipettes, polishing glass capillary tubes, making glass dissection needles, and sealing a wire pick into a glass pipette.