Australia's Science Forum

So not Vic yet. Interestingly, who inspects your school to implement the fines if you do have banned plastics? And who pays the fine? I was quite pedantic in getting on top of banned chemicals years ago, the Art room was a bit dodgy, and I was told you just get a load of warnings as the Vic gov isn'...

I still use them, I use a sturdy food storage container to store 6 x. I print labels off riskassess for the bottles and the container. I prefer the 50ml, the rubber teat/droppers do perish though. I get mine at the end of the year usually with budget remainder, or to flesh out an order. You can just...

Thank you. I don't know Orange IV though. Will look it up.

We got balances from Kogan, cheap, good and on batteries, good balances are left with their cords. Hotplates and power packs all use interchangable kettle cords, so I stack up the equipment and the cords are in a tub. I usually put the correct amount of cords with the apparatus on a trolley. The equ...

Luckily I inherited a lab with all the chemicals stored in their DG groups, and in the old days in Vic, colour coded- (coloured stickers on each container), it was compulsory. I keep all the chemicals even diluted ones, (in class sets in little containers), in their category in alphabetical order.

I have a prac request which we are doing that was sent through from another school. It requires a hydroxide ethanol solution. I know it is potassium hydroxide, but then different pages have methanol and ethanol, so either can be used I think. So the teacher and myself are not sure what the hydroxide...

All the food scraps from the canteen etc go to the worm farms and chickens, apart from chicken bones I guess. I used to bin it but our bins aren't too feral these days. It seems like there should be a better solution.

How do you all get rid of hearts, eyeballs etc after a dissection? I freeze all my waste but as our skips are collected monthly and I work part time, never sure how long the stuff is in the bins and if it will pong, or never breakdown in the tip if I wrap it with too much plastic etc. If it is ok fo...

They used to turn them up, but I haven't seen any for awhile so maybe they have changed.

It becomes less explosive as it ages and absorbs moisture. I bet if I got rid of it a teacher would ask for it next week.

Matches. The yr 7's have no idea how to use them but I reckon lighters become flame throwers too easily. They will misuse them, (matches), worst I had was when they chucked them in the bin and caught the paper on fire.

Get the jelly beans out of a bag with offal in it in front of the class. I tell the kids they dont eat in the science room due to contamination, and they believe me.

For the first time ever we have to do an order form for the abattoirs for eyes-$2 and brains $8, we get brains from the butcher or supermarket anyway, hearts, plucks and blood free from the abattoirs, and as we are a school they don't cut them much, usually.

Best plants apart from onion for year 7's to look at? We will cut the plants for them, because yr 7's can't be trusted with sharp things these days.

Freezing in Gippsland. The teachers and students leave doors open.

There is tricky adjusting bit that refocuses your microscopes. It is just on the turret below the stage I think. I will check and get back to you.

lead shot was used in triple arm balances to calibrate and lead is used in alloys, yr 11 metals.

It goes bang but sometimes spits. Turns into concentrated sodium Hydroxide solution ........Like you need that splattering around the place .Glasses on Kids . :whistling2: Yes it does and years ago I had a teacher use it outside the fume hood. Spat onto the front row of desks, After he warned the k...

We still have the old copper bowls with graded interlocking copper rings. Half the time we just put a big beaker on a low heat on a hotplate, and use that.

Store in a separate spot to 3, 4.1 and 4.2. Quite safe while it is under paraffin, and will not readily react until it is in water. Safe to transfer into more paraffin using tongs or forceps. Always insist on a small amount for reactions in a trough in a fume hood. I have one teacher who uses too mu...