Australia's Science Forum

Thanks, I'll look into it.

I don't know, we've always used them, since before I started here. I thought as long as you were an Education provider you could use them.

They do have a table at the back but it doesn't have HDPE on it, unless they've used another name. I've just ordered HDPE anyway and ended up getting the containers from somewhere else, they just say plastic so who knows!!!!!

If you are in Queensland you may want to have a look at SDS's website as they have slashed a lot of their prices as they are closing. I have ended up buying some stuff that we weren’t desperate for but the prices seemed very good. e.g. 1000ml glass reagent bottle $4.20

Also as a follow on from this I am also looking at small containers for class sets of dry chemicals and the choices are polystyrene, polypropylene or polycarbonate.

Hi I have had a look through the old threads and although HDPE is mentioned I couldn't find an answer to my question. What are the different uses of HDPE and PP bottles? I have always bought HDPE when I have needed to buy them as it has (I think) better chemical resistance. I have been looking in La...

This is how I make my agar. The students do the setting up so I just make the agar and leave it in the water bath set at 50 degrees so they can pour it when ready. The recipe is per 100ml so depends how many groups you are doing how much you need, just multiply up all the quantities. 1g agar powder ...

nickyw, I was just looking at your strawberry method. How much meat tenderiser is it? 1 tsp or tbsp?
Thanks

As far as I am aware there should be a hard copy of the full SDS/MSDS of all hazardous goods somewhere like the main office. This is so that in an emergency it is easy to get to and doesn't involve computers or internet which may not be working. Haven't looked at the new GHS stuff much yet but I thi...

Ours are home made, I presume by our manual arts people but were already here when I started. They are wood but held together at the corners by wingnuts and screws so they can be taken apart to store. We have 5 and each one has each piece of wood labelled so you know which ones go together, as becau...

I spoke to our year 9 teacher who plans the work programme and we are just doing the hearts we got from Dissection Connection so that is good news. She did threaten to do it next year but I think she was joking!

Is dissecting a rat really necessary for that unit? Like you say it is a lot of money (and dead rats!). I hope we aren't going to have to do it!

I used to work in a forensic lab and the old boys would tell us about how they would sit around smoking while pipetting blood samples! Worryingly not that long ago! And then they would go upstairs to the bar and have a drink with any of the police officers who happened to be around.

P.S. As we do it in the lab we do not let anybody taste the wine we make. We don't take the quality of the wine we make too seriously, we aren't going for a medal winning wine at the Ekka!

We do cheats wine. We use something called Oztops (google it or I can PM you the details). You get yeast and these special lids that fit on juice and soda bottles. So you buy bottles of apple or grape juice then add the yeast and put the lids on. The students can do things like adding extra sugar to...

I have found it difficult to get all the important rules onto something that is easy to read. These are the two I came up with along with another pic I also put up for fun!

You can try googling Pisces Enterprises and Personal Pet Services. Pisces are approx $10 I think for a decent sized rat but you need to set up an account with them and pre-pay orders (depending on size of order). We only used Pisces the once and was a couple of years ago so wouldn't like to comment ...

I was told once that if you cut up pieces of exposed film the students could look through it at the Mg burning. I found some old x-rays and cut pieces off the edges but was never brave enough to use it as I wasn't convinced it would be enough protection.

We have a large staff room for everyone to use for eating, teachers, school officers etc. I usually try and go up there for lunch so I don't get too cut off from the rest of the staff. However, I do find that as we often have to get into labs in between classes to clear up or set up I don't always m...

In QLD there is Pisces pet supplies. Don't have the details to hand but I will try and find them. We used them a couple of years ago when the whole of our 8/9 cohort did dissections. Not fun! I'll look for them and repost.