Description

Glass, round bottomed ungraduated 250 mL flask with a ground-glass stopper opening at the top.

A round-bottom flask is a piece of laboratory equipment that is used to heat solutions. Their round bottoms allow for more uniform heating. This one was used by the MIT Chemistry Department until it was donated to the museum in 1978.

This flask is made of Pyrex, the Corning trade name for borosilicate glass. The Corning Glass Works developed a lead-free borosilicate glass as a consumer product in 1915. Though it was first used in consumer products like pie plates and casserole dishes, WWI-era shortages in laboratory equipment (which were mainly manufactured in Germany) led the company to expand into making glass labware.