Burette Facts for Kids

A diagram of a modern burette

A burette is a special glass tube used in science labs to measure liquids very carefully. It's like a super accurate measuring cup for scientists! Burettes help scientists measure the exact amount of liquid they need, down to tiny drops. This is important for experiments where precise measurements are key.

History of the Burette
How a Burette Works
Why Burettes Are Important
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History of the Burette

The first idea for a burette came from a scientist named Francois Antoine Henri Descroizilles in 1791. Later, another scientist named Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac made an even better version of the burette. These inventions helped scientists do more accurate experiments.

How a Burette Works

A burette is a long, thin glass tube with markings along its side, like a ruler. It has a special tap, called a stopcock, at the bottom. This stopcock lets scientists control how much liquid flows out, drop by drop.

Here's how it's used:

First, the burette is filled with a liquid.
Then, the scientist slowly opens the stopcock to let the liquid drip out.
They watch the markings on the side to see exactly how much liquid has been released.
Because the markings are very close together, a burette can measure liquids with amazing accuracy, usually within 0.05 milliliters (mL)! That's less than a single drop of water.

Why Burettes Are Important

Burettes are super useful in many science experiments, especially in a process called titration. In titration, scientists use a burette to add one liquid to another very slowly until a chemical reaction happens. This helps them figure out how much of a certain substance is in a liquid. For example, they might use it to test the acidity of a solution or to find out how much vitamin C is in orange juice.