Coffee Stirrers and Drinking Straws as Disposable Spatulas

Although metal spatulas are damaged through everyday use and become discolored and corroded by chemical exposure, plastic drinking straws are inexpensive, sterile, and disposable, reducing the risk of cross-contamination during laboratory procedures. Drinking straws are also useful because they come in a variety of sizes; narrow sample containers such as NMR and EPR tubes can easily be filled using small diameter coffee stirrers, whereas bulk material can be transferred using larger drinking straws. Several types of drinking straws and coffee stirrers were cut at various angles and the amount of material picked up in a single scoop was massed 30 times. Standard deviations of the 30 measurements per straw indicate that approximately the same amount of material will be transferred each time by the same operator.