• Question: why do scientists were whight labcoats and not different colours

    Asked by brandondauncey to David, Rebecca, Simon, Verity, Wei on 15 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Rebecca Handley

      Rebecca Handley answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      Oh we do wear different colours! When I’m teaching students I wear a green lab coat and the lab technicians wear blue lab coats. It helps the students know who to approach if they need help. We also have a bright pink lab coat, which we make students wear if they forget their own labcoat!

    • Photo: David Armstrong

      David Armstrong answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      White lab coats show most easily if you have spilt anything on yourself. If you were wearing a coloured lab coat you might not notice quickly.

    • Photo: Wei Xun

      Wei Xun answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      haha good question!

      I have seen dark blue ones, but they are rare. I think the colour and fabric (cotton) makes it easier to clean (ie using high temeratures and chemicals). We also used to get all our lab coats together into one big wash load, if someone had a red one that ran, we’d end up with 20 pink ones!

    • Photo: Verity Nye

      Verity Nye answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      I think the others have pretty much covered this one. What I found strange was that when I visited a lab in the United States recently nobody wore lab coats. We have to wear them here though.

Comments