Question

What is a graduated cylinder?

Answer 1

Hint: In qualitative analysis, or for measuring various solutions, we require various equipment. A graduated cylinder measures liquids. It can consist of milliliter units or liter units. The unit of measurement becomes easier through a use of a graduated cylinder.

Complete answer:
While doing experiments in a chemistry lab we all have to measure solutions in certain quantities. For easily doing such measurements of liquids, a graduated cylinder is used. A graduated cylinder is a glass or plastic equipment that consists of narrow tube-like cylinder structure. It consists of the measuring units commonly in milliliters (mL).
The graduated cylinder has a narrow structure with a broad base to make it stand firm. The graduated cylinder consists of an opening wide enough to pour the liquid easily. Some cylinders also consist of a stopper to close them. The surface of the liquid through which the reading is measured is the meniscus. This meniscus is the measuring line, and can be upper and lower according to the liquid. Graduated cylinders are also called measuring cylinders or mixing cylinders. A diagram of a graduated cylinder is,

The measuring units can vary from 10mL to 1000mL or 50mL to 500mL.
Hence, a graduated cylinder is a lab equipment used to measure the volume of liquids in milliliters.

Note:
The accuracy of a graduated cylinder depends on the scales given in the cylinder. The most accurate reading is up to 3 significant figures. The measuring cylinders with 100mL divisions have the lowest grading of 1mL, while the cylinders with 10mL divisions have a lowest grading of 0.1mL. This depicts its accuracy.