Australia's Science Forum

I have been asked to chase up replacement parts for equipment that was purchased in 1997. It is manufactured by Cambridge Physics Outlet (CPO ) and is free fall apparatus and photogates. There were numerous other bits that came with it like a marble launcher. When I "Google" sites in Austr...

Help!!! Has anyone successfully removed white out spills from fabric (Synthetic possibly microfibre), if so what did you use? Someone hadn't properly replaced the lid so as I shook the bottle it went all over my warm jacket. Have tried on scrap material, metho, Toluene, acetone, Xylol, Eucalyptus oi...

Hi Annette,

Whilst looking for gravity drop apparatus this morning I happened to notice a Force Board and Force Table in the Physics section of the Serratta catalogue.(Page 48 in Physics-Mechanics of solids)

Wendy

Our cleaning is also a shared responsibility. We have 7 labs which makes keeping them clean and tidy a very big job. The cleaners are very good, each day they do the floors,benchtops and clean out the sinks. The clean around any equipment that is left set up. I have 30 glass beakers, 30 test tubes, ...

Our most recent slides have been purchased from ISSCO (Industrial & Scientific Supply Co). We get a flyer from them periodically which advertises sets of slides for 5 slides of the same thing for $19. I couldn't find a list of these specials on the web site but if you rang them on (02) 9743 2588...

Oxley High is a big spread out school with 3 preprooms. My main prep room and 2 others each up several flights of stairs. To elimate carrying solutions to and fro I have a 2.5 Litre stock bottle of 1M Hydrochloric acid Sulfuric acid Acetic acid Nitric acid Ammonia Lime water Sodium Hydroxide in each...

Oxley High School is a big school (1150 odd students) and has 4 blocks spread out on a sloping site. 3 of these blocks contain science labs and prep rooms. It's over 300 metres from my main prep room to either of the other prep rooms. One is up 2 fights of 10 stairs and the other 2 flights of 15 sta...

Thanks Robb for the tip about water de-ionisers it has got me thinking and trying to work out how to get one for Oxley. There are a couple of questions I need to find the answers to though. Does it give me a similar product to my old still. Neutral water with all the chemicals etc removed? How long ...

Totally off base but my teachers use chocolate chip cookies for ore in the "exploiting earth resources" topic in Year 8. I buy several brands and they get the students to "extract" the chocolate chips and come up with which brand had the highest grade ore. They then get to eat th...

Due to our water restrictions (level 4) I can no longer distil my water and have taken to purchasing 4 litre bottles of Glendale distilled water from the Automotive section at Big W. Its about $ 3.50 per bottle. I have stopped rinsing things like burettes with distilled water before I put them away ...

I may be missing something in my maths but can anyone help me with a problem regarding Hydrochloric Acid. Our concentrate come as 32% which is then described in manuals as 10 M. I can't work out why, if the Molecular weight of HCl is 36.46 why 10M HCl should not be 36% and the 32% concentration abou...

Hi All, I would just like to thank Alice for her help. I first tried the method she used using a 1L bottle and then modified it for a class set of 10 (using our good Schott Bottles so I was really glad none got broken) I kept the vials and tubing ready for the same topic next year. I willl just have...

Hi All, Today one of our teachers tried to make fire extinguishers with round bottom flasks that had a stopper with tubing through it. Inside the flask he had a solution of sodium hydrogen carbonate and a small suspended mini test tube of HCl. When he inverted them the 2 were supposed to mix and sen...

Hi Annette

They come out once a year at the relevant point in the Senior Chemistry syllabus.

This chat made me realise that they wern't on my Chemical register nor did I have a MSDS for them, so this morning I have done both.

Wendy

I also have a large coffe jar that contains three such tubes. On investigation from the Chemistry teacher that has been here forever, they were actually made by the Head Teacher Science over 10 years ago. They first sealed one end of the large glass tube, generated the gas from Nitric Acid and coppe...

From the CSIS book and SI chemical data book this appears to be Sodium Phosphate Na[sub]3[/sub]PO[sub]4[/sub].12H[sub]2[/sub]O and you will be able to find a MSDS for that. I have 3 bottles from Gov Stores days but haven't used them in the 7 years I have been here. I have been doing my MSDS over the...

Hi All, I have just discovered my big plastic skeleton has a fractured skull. At the moment this is just a split but I would lke to repair it before it totally breaks in half. Does anyone have any suggestions at to what glue I should use. There are so many choices and I wouldn't like to use one that...

For NSW members Q stores has reams of 5mm & 2mm graph paper at $6.37/ream. As far as I could work out this was cheaper than buying pads or photocopying original sheets. My teachers are quite happy with the quality. Q stores Catalogue pg 114 item no's 1292064 & 1292072. Wendy //EDITED by adam...

Hi All, My first time so I hope I get it right. Our Physics teacher has just used precious money to purchase a Super conductivity Kit and now asks me for some liquid Nitrogen so she can actually use it. I have no idea as to where to start sourcing this. Any suggestions. I'm in Tamworth NSW. This web...