Pipettes are used for transferring liquids. There are a variety of different types of pipettes. This is a serological pipette, also called a volumetric transfer pipette, which is used for measuring and transferring milliliters and fractions of milliliters of liquid. Because serological pipettes are often used to transfer liquids that need to be kept sterile, they're commonly provided in special packaging to keep them sterile. Let's take a look at the information stamped on the side of this pipette. Notice it says this pipette measures 1 milliliter. That is the maximum you can measure or accurately transfer with this pipette in tenths of a milliliter. You'll also see a temperature listed on the side of this pipette. That's the temperature at which the pipette would be most accurate and will tend to be standard room temperature. Now, take a look at the measurement scales. You can see there are two of them. One side goes from 0.1 at the bottom up to 1.0. This is the scale you use to measure how much you are pulling up into the pipette. How much liquid is contained there. Turn the pipette around, and you can see a reversed scale that goes from 0.9 to zero, and then on up to some negative numbers. This is a delivery scale, and you would only use it if you were measuring how much you release from the pipette. Now, look back up at the top of the pipette. If you see double rings, that means it is a blowout pipette, and you have to use your bub or pump to blow the last drop of the tip of the pipette to dispense the measured volume. To create suction and pull liquid into the pipette, you need a buulb or some other type of pumping device. You should never ever use your mouth to suck liquid into a pipette or blow liquid out. Notice that this pipette has a little piece of cotton at the top. That helps to soak up some, but not all of the liquid in case you accidentally overfill the pipette. I slide the bub over the end of the pipette, and now I'm ready to do some transfers. For this demonstration, I'm going to transfer some water with food coloring, so it'll be easy to see. You may need to take special precautions depending on what you are transferring, so be sure to read your lab manual and watch any related videos before starting your experiment. If I want to pull a small volume into the pipette, I'll squeeze the bub just slightly to create a little suction. I draw up the amount I want. Then I can remove the pipette from the liquid. If some air comes up into the pipette tip, that's all right because I know how much liquid is in the pipette. To dispense, just hold the pipette over the container and squeeze the pipette bulb. Don't forget to blow out the last drop from the tip of the pipette if you're using a blowout pipette.