When some people hear the word ‘laboratory,’ they might think of their high school chemistry class and the time they nearly set the entire school on fire with the Bunsen burner. When other people hear the word, they might imagine Frankenstein’s secret laboratory, when the Monster was created. That leads to basically every fictional account of mad scientists, out of their mind with the need to control and dominate nature and God’s territory. But of course, real laboratories are nothing like that. Real laboratories can be found in hospitals and in a wide variety of fields, from the life sciences to biotechnology to semiconductor manufacturing.

A laboratory can be a cleanroom. That means that the air in the room needs to be kept mostly clear of dust, dirt, and other contaminating particles. The laboratory does not need to be completely free of contaminants, because that’s not possible. The atmosphere in a cleanroom is kept controlled so that only a certain amount of particles per square foot is present. This is necessary because of the type of work done in a cleanroom. Dirt and dust can harm delicate experiments and throw off the results. And that’s not even the worst case scenario. That’s why certain products are necessary, and why even the most common pencil or pen can’t be used in a cleanroom. Special products need to be manufactured for laboratories in order to promote a static free or static controlled environment. People also need to take air showers and wear special suits and footwear to minimize the amount of dirt tracked into a laboratory.