Australia's Science Forum

Some fuels are going to be placed in crucibles, others in watch glasses. We don't have spirit burners. :oops: Joy We have some "home made" spirit burners here. They are made out of glass vials. a piece of class tube is pushed through a cork in the top and then venetian blind cord pushed t...

Thankyou.

....but it LOOKS like a metre rule with holes drilled in it!!!

Have a great weekend!
Ian

I have a little bottle of FeCl 2 x H 2 O from Chem Supply and a large bottle of FeCl 2 .4H 2 O from Unilab. The FeCl 2 x H 2 O is labeled as 126.75 g/mol which is the same answer that you get when you add the weighs of one Fe plus 2 Chlorines together. The FeCl 2 .4H 2 O is labeled as 198.81 g/mol. ...

Yeah! Most of the Science Staff (EXCEPT ME!!!!!) are going on a week long excursion with 50 kids, to FNQ (Cairns, I think) to view it. When they have finished looking at the eclipse, they get to tour a rainforest and go snorkelling on the reef. The kids pay extra so that the teachers can go for free...

The recipe that I have used for the last 6 years (from Manual for Science Assistants, (dated 4 BC!)) Calls for 5g Peptone, 5g NaCl, 2g Vegemite, 1g Bonox and 15 g Agar for 1 Litre of mixture. It always works well. This time I made it with everything EXCEPT the peptone, and we barely got any cultures...

If you have the Capstan Blocks, you should also have a lot of 1meter wooden rulers with small holes drilled all the way down the centre, which will fit the metal rod that you mentioned. The Capstan Block fits on to a Retort Stand and is secured by one of the screws. Even without the "Simple Mac...

Hi all, I need to make up about 100 agar plates for Monday. The recipe that I usually use asks for 5g/L of Peptone. It seems that either I have misplaced or somebody has swiped my bottle of peptone! I have half a dozen bottles of Pepsin. Does anybody know 1. how essential is the Peptone? 2. Can I su...

Hi all you chemistry buffs out there! Someone asked me about the fumes given off when they tried to dissolve a broken off steel screw out of a brass fitting. I have no idea what the fumes are, but I don't even understand the reaction. Alum is Potassium Aluminium Sulfate. Brass is an alloy of Copper ...

lada wrote:Thanks, Ian,
I wish her all the best and crawl into my little prep room.
Lada

Hey Lada, Don't hide away in that Prep Room too long. We need you out here helping the rest of us!

All the best
Ian

silly but I thought WHY? WHY BOTHER? then I thought well make up litmus solution with the normal blue litmus powder and add acid to make it red.... That's what I did. My Red Litmus solution is just blue Litmus Solution with a dash of HCl added until it goes red. It works for me! Oh, Lada: Merilyn i...

ri wrote:Can I ask my colleagues what rules they have regarding food in labs - students snacking or food tasting experiments??
~Robyn

"No Comment" on the grounds that I might incriminate myself/my science department!

Cheers
Ian

We do the dry pasta too. We then move on to the bottled biological specimens!

Ian

Acrylic ones at Serrata, also!
Ian

. If we sit them all in the same solution, none of the readings are even close. :mad: :mad: I can understand that the pH meters may be old and useless, but the probes for the data loggers are brand new, and the instructions say that for basic operation they do not need to be calibrated. :? Julie Ou...

Interesting question! At the school where I work, I think that the rule seems to be that the kids should keep phone calls to a minimum while in class! I have often seen kids with ear phones in their ears in class, and commonly see kids standing in the middle of the playground talking on their phones...

Our garbage is only collected once a week, so I put all the dissection rubbish into a chest freezer until the afternoon before collection day, and then (usually) forget to put it in the big bins before I go home. (at the moment, my chest freezer is getting a bit full!)

Ian

Ocean Breeze, I would not be BOILING the peppercorn broth, as that would kill the bacteria. Just leave it for a couple of days in room temp water and strain off the liquid. Rosaliemb, I don't have an oven to sterilise my cotton wool swabs. Do you think a Microwave would work? Any other ideas about h...

Reading through this thread, I am very jealous of all you Chemistry type people! I was a Physics teacher (with a smattering of Biology) for 12 years, and actively avoided ALL things chemical! ...then I ended up as a Lab Techie, where Chemistry is my main focus. What a steep learning curve!!!! My Phy...

If they are the standard 0-110 degree C thermometers, it should not be a problem if they are placed in the glassware tray at the top. We have some thermometers that only go up to 50 deg. They would not cope with dishwasher temperatures!

cheers
Ian

Good luck!
We will miss you Merilyn! Keep in touch!
I guess, as long as our kids are in the same school, we will cross paths! Just make sure that you come and say "Hello" cos I am blind as a bat, and probably won't see you unless you are close!

Happy Easter!

Ian