Question

After performing this lab, your lab partner decides that she will disinfect her forceps with bleach rather than with alcohol. Why is this a bad idea?

A. Some residual bleach may remain on the forceps. Therefore, you could accidentally mess up your experiments by adding bleach to them without even knowing.
B. Bleach can adversely (and dangerously) react with certain laboratory chemicals.
C. Bleach takes much longer to kill than does alcohol.
D. All available answer choices are true.

Answer 1

Using bleach to disinfect forceps is not recommended as it can leave residue, react with other chemicals, and does not kill microbes as quickly as alcohol. Thus, all given reasons are valid concerns.

Step-by-step explanation:

Disinfecting forceps with bleach instead of alcohol is not advisable for several reasons. Firstly, residual bleach on the forceps could inadvertently contaminate experiments. Secondly, bleach can react dangerously with other laboratory chemicals. Lastly, bleach does not act as quickly as alcohol to kill microbes. Therefore, the correct answer is D. All available answer choices are true.

The effectiveness of chemical disinfectants like bleach and alcohol has been historically compared to phenol. Alcohol, especially ethyl alcohol (70% solution), is commonly used in labs due to its effectiveness at denaturing proteins quickly and disrupting cell membranes causing cell lysis. Unlike alcohol, which evaporates quickly after use, bleach can leave a residue that can interfere with laboratory results and pose a hazard due to its reactive nature. It's key to follow proper disinfection protocols to ensure laboratory safety and the integrity of experimental results.