Australia's Science Forum

In terms of the car insurance, if I was in an accident on my from work to the shops or from the shops to my home who is to say what I was doing in my car? If I have left work I could be going to the shops for any reason and if I am on my home, I'm on my way home! Just cos I have a bag of bicarb in m...

I've been having another look at this as I have been trying to get extra hours for myself and maybe some help. They have said we need to provide a new job description to show why I need more hours. a) I didn't know I had an old job description and b) i'm not doing different things just more of it! A...

The good thing about doing this on filter paper is you can use pens too. we used black pen and a few other Crayola coloured pens as well as some food colouring. One of the pens had a blue colour that moved backwards.

Ha ha, some days that goes off the scale!

I am part time and don't really want to increase my hours too much but can't manage everything we need to do in the time I have. So I have asked for some help next year from one of the teacher aides. My plan is to use them for less technical stuff, cleaning labs, washing lab coats and tea towels, sh...

I did it just with alfoil. Worked well. Make sure you have things that will separate. Red just moves as it has nothing to separate into. Blue and yellow might do the same.

The Laboratory - A Science Reference and Preparation Manual for Schools (Revised)
By Barbara Dungey,

It is available from Southern Biological ($63.60)

Thanks guys. Got some help from the labbies forum too so think I am sorted. Don't have an issue with making the solution just which Molecular weight to use. I'm pretty sure that the X means they don't know how many H2O (i.e. its a mixture) rather than none or it would just say anhydrous. As I say do...

I’m looking for tips on making a 0.1M solution of FeCl2. It is only for precipitation reactions so accuracy isn’t too important but would like to have it in the right ballpark. It is labelled up FeCl2XH20 MW 126.75g + aq. I think last time I made it I assumed 4 H2O as that is the most ...

That looks great! Much more professional than mine! We did it for 12Chem forensics also.

It is off Brightminds but can't find the proper link for it at the moment. The link below takes you to a copy of the experiment though. Yes it is alfoil as the contacts. The agar is made with sodium bicarbonate buffer and then once it is set and you have put your samples in you pour the buffer over ...

Hi guys we did this the other day in a butter container with food dyes and pens. I was really please with how well it worked so wanted to share my piccies.

Sorry to confuse matters but....... Our Conc HCl is either 32 or 36% making it ~10-12 M. According to Chemwatch 0.1M is 0.37% so would probably be close enough. I often use chemwatch for percentages as the mini MSDS usually says at the top what the percentages are and then you can often work out whe...

Science and plants for schools http://www.saps.org.uk/secondary/teaching-resources/871?dm_i=19FH,ZYO0,7HHRT3,317Q0,1 This is a link to a game of Top Trumps using drugs/poisons derived from plants but the whole site looks quite useful. You may need to sign up to get into it all but I got this link fr...

Education Matters are pretty good.

Thanks for that. I thought about testing it myself but haven't had a chance yet. I think she just found it somewhere, sounds American to me. I considered suggesting the borax version but she also wants to do making sherbet (which always worries me anyway) and thought of sherbet and borax in the same...

Her recipe says

Silly Putty:
2 parts craft liquid glue
1 part liquid starch

A teacher has just asked me for liquid starch to make silly putty tomorrow as a "fun" last day of term prac. Any ideas? I think it may be what people use to starch clothes but not sure if it is available here.

Like David there is actually a drain hole in the floor not too far away but as he says the water doesn't flow towards it and pools in other areas. When I mop up I push it towards the hole to help get rid of it but again without me doing this it wouldn't help at all. In a major chemical spill, if we ...

For me a mat doesn't really help my problem. When I test them I put a bucket under and manage to catch most of it and then mop up what I miss. Having a mat there doesn't allow me to just turn the eye wash on and test it, then walk away. I will still have to clean up afterwards. The mat would only he...