Make sure there is enough liquid in a beaker or other container to completely fill the pipet. (NEVER pipet directly from a reagent bottle or volumetric flask.)
Place the tip of the pipet below the liquid's surface. Using a bulb or pump, draw the liquid into the pipet. Draw slightly more liquid than needed, but DO NOT allow the liquid to enter the bulb. Lift the pipet from the solution and touch the tip of the pipet to the side of the container to remove any excess liquid that is outside the pipet.
Any excess liquid that you fail to touch off might be transferred to the receiving vessel and needs to be removed before delivering the liquid. Failure to touch off the excess liquid will result in poor results because the volume transferred will be more than the recorded volume.
Drain the liquid into a waste beaker until the bottom of the meniscus is aligned with the graduation mark. Remember to eliminate parallax when aligning the meniscus with the graduation mark.
Slowly release the liquid into a receiving vessel (a beaker or flask) until the liquid no longer flows from the pipet. Do not use the bulb or pump to blow out the small amount of liquid that remains in the pipet.
Touch the tip of the pipet to the inside of the receiving vessel to add any liquid that remains on the outside of the pipet.
Why touch the inside of the receiving vessel? Answer
All liquid that was released from the pipet should be transferred to the receiving vessel. Failure to touch off a small droplet of the liquid will give poor results because the volume transferred will be less than the recorded volume.
Why touch the inside of the container?