Color Codes on Chemicals and MSDS
Lab Chemistry NOTES
Color Codes on Chemicals
ORANGE = tells you the chemical is caustic (indicates base) or corrosive (indicates
acid)
Cleaning: rinse, don’t scrub
GREEN = tells you the chemical has no particular hazards overall
BLUE = tells you the chemicals health hazard
Cleaning: scrub
YELLOW = tells you the reactivity of the chemical (oxidizer)
Important: keep away from fire
Important: don’t mix with anything unless told to
RED/PINK = tells you the flammability of the chemical
Important: keep away from heat/flame
Using the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS)
NFPA scale
FLINN Scale
0 (no risk)
4 (extreme risk)
0 (no risk)
3 (extreme risk)
Whenever you work on a lab using chemicals you are required to look up the chemicals
prior to working on the lab. In your actual lab report you will have a section titled
“Hazards/Cautions” where you will write down the following for the chemicals you are
using in the lab: chemical name, chemical formula, and health, fire, and reactivity
ratings. You also need to record if the ratings you wrote down are NFPA ratings or
FLINN ratings. If the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) ratings are
provided then those are the ratings you must use; if there are no NFPA ratings
provided then use the FLINN ratings. If a chemical’s NFPA ratings for health, fire,
and/or reactivity are a 3 or a 4 than you need to record specific information. If a
chemical’s FLINN ratings for health, fire, and/or reactivity are a 2 or a 3 then you need
to record specific information. When referring to a MSDS sheet:
1) Formulas are found in Section 9
2) Health, Flammability, Reactivity ratings are found in Section 5 (NFPA) and/or
Section 3 (FLINN)
3) Health information is found in Section 4 – record what to do if you get the
chemical on your skin or in your eyes
4) Fire/Flammability information is found in Section 5 – record how to put the fire
out
5) Reactivity information is found in Section 10 – record what things to avoid
contact with
BrassbridgeChemistry/GeneralChem/NotesPracMSDS
MSDS Practice
Lab Chemistry
Name:_______________________________Section:____Date:_______
Using the MSDS for ethyl alcohol, glycerin, and hydrogen peroxide write in the
information you would need to collect for these chemicals if you were doing a
lab, which used these chemicals.
Chemical Name: Ethyl Alcohol
Chemical Name: Glycerin
Chemical Name: Hydrogen Peroxide
BrassbridgeChemistry/GeneralChem/NotesPracMSDS