Australia's Science Forum

A teacher wants to open an agar plate that's been growing bacteria @ 30degC, to view under microscope. I don't have a risk assesessment, but surely that's not right?

Yeah, he wants to use as indicator for aqueous solutions. Thanx Rowy, I'm rotating 2 crucibles, stirring with glass rod; can only take ~12g a time but is more efficient and has sped up the whole process. Had to take the beaker off as it formed a crust on the bottom, blue on top, white undemeath) whi...

New teach wants 250g anhydrous Copper Sulfate for tomorrow. We've only got the pentahydrate, so I've got 400g in glass petri dishes and a beaker on a hot plate. Making some progress, but could take all day & night. Anyone got any better/faster ideas? Hey, a century of posts! I'm out of the nervo...

I interpret it as 4M HCl OK for yr 11-12 ; not for 7-12. Same for 1M NaOH.

I once asked a butcher if he had any brains; won't do that again.

I spell it 'sulfur' but a quick check of manufacturers' products in the chem store yielded an almost equal number of 'sulphates' as 'sulfates', etc. Maybe Aussies just suit ourselves, but had to share this (from WebElements online Periodic Table): Brief description: the spelling of sulphur is "...

Since all the labs here have been fitted with Smart Boards (beginning this term), none of the teachers have requested a TV/VCR/DVD player, ditto for the OHP. One less thing, as Forrest Gump might say. Next thing was a demonstration by a datalogger company rep, who also showed us software that would ...

Hi Tina, just noticed your post. Yeah, what Ian said. I run a metal-blade spatula down the sides and tap it out onto a flat surface; can only guarantee if using my recipe, though.

Hi Ian. We still use CSIS guidelines.; for disposal of solutions down sink, I go by the Sydney Water limits listed in Appendix E, which is 8g manganese (equivalent 1.5L of 0.1M) per day.

I use 5% w/v I in 10% w/v KI for iodine stain (takes a long time to dissolve - overnight with magnetic stirrer)
Prepare 10% v/v of this solution for Lugol's (starch indicator)

Get a filter system - we use Millipore. Stills waste water and muck up your pH (due to CO2 absorption).

Our EasySense dataloggers are getting old; :-({|= the Data Harvest software was originally supplied on floppy disks. The software can be downloaded (from Serrata website) but I don't have 'administrator' status. The ITs downloaded succesfully on my Prep Room computer, but it doesn't seem to work on ...

Or get a Millipore filter. Stills are causing sea-levels to rise.

If I'm asked for dropper bottles and I don't already have the required reagent in dropper bottles, and I don't feel inclined to allocate, label & fill 8 or so dropper bottles with the chemical required, I just give them one bottle and a dropper pipette (but ensure the bottle is shorter than the ...

Something like this?:
http://www.biotech.wisc.edu/Outreach/wisco.html

I have a space on my Prac Order form for PPE (personal protection equipment) which I fill out for them, so no excuses. Might also help if the teacher reads the RA to the class b4 starting the prac., so the kids have no excuse either.

We recently got a 6-part eye from Serrata. $125 Part no. 1066008

The colour would have to depend on the filament material rather than the voltage, but when I got back to Teach she was talking about detecting colour changes from red to orange to yellow as the 12 Volt bulb heats up from 2V to 12V, but hard to do with out a very sensitive bulb. Should I tell her she...

Physics teacher has asked me to get a '12V mounted lamp' that changes colour as the voltage is racked up from 2V to the 12 Volts. Anyone got one/know a supplier?