Australia's Science Forum

G'day, I would first try to get as much rust off as possible and then I would try rubbing a tiny amount of petroleum jelly over the whole tripod. Just enough to give it a fine coating so that when rinsed under water, the water just runs away. There should be no excess of the jelly on the tripod. I u...

G'day Dime, I am quite appalled by the way you have been treated. Smiley said it well....Union! And so did Mother. I have 2 suggestions. 1. Document everything that happens between you. Take photos, if you can of her incompetence. But document, document, document!!! 2. Definitely take a colleague in...

When I first read this post I thought where is this person working that the temperature has reached 45 drgrees? Who is that poor suffering idiot? Well, earlier this year, it was us in Melbourne and sadly some of us did not survive this heat and more.
I hope it is not too hot this year.

Maree

In my old school I had an AJAX catalogue of all its chemicals. Each chemical obviously had M.W. , etc.... plus a disposal code. Maybe the chemical companies still supply this sort of information.

Maree

G'day Trish, Anything, anything that requires you to take home for your husband to fix is NOT your responsibility. It is the school's responsibility and it should pay for service. DO NOT take jobs home. I fiddle with the microscopes and have fixed plenty of triple arm balances in my time, but that i...

From the website I noticed that they have a Clax trolley. There was one of these at this school when I arrived. It is excellent and has large wheels. One does not have to bend much when using it. Also, it totally folds up so that it can go in the boot of the car. It is quite light in weight. As I ha...

G'day All,
Have checked through the forums and not found what I want....maybe it's me! But can you please help with ideas about doing classification with different substances...e.g. sweets, pasta...etc. Thank you for any help.
Maree

Nitric Acid with Copper will give you an unpleasant surprise if I remember correctly. I think it is nitrous oxide that is produced. Not nice..................
Maree

Thank you Lada and Lorrae. There is usually a simple answer to most things and you two have found that for me. Thanks again.
Maree

G'day All, I am having a dumb day so I need help more than usual. I need some flowers for dissection that I can readily buy at a florist. I have already rang asking for hibiscus but they do not seem to be available. And, after having spent much time on the net, I realise that I need to go to the ora...

G'day Sammy, Welcome to the best site out for helping Science Laboratory Technicians in Australia. I do the same as Lisa except for one thing. After cleaning and a thorough rinse in water I then rinse my dissecting equipment in Methylated Spirits. Why? It takes away the water (and therefore any rust...

Many Victorians do not know about Chemtalk. When going to the Lab. Tachs. conference I do make a point of telling everyone I can about it. Victorians use a list serve where emails go out to everyone on the service, asking and offering advice. I prefer this as I log in when I want to and do not get e...

Like Rosalie, I have become a control freak over matches. I do it a little differently from her. I actually put about 8 matches in each box. They are not usually all gone, funnily enough. Maybe the students think that is all there is and look after them better. But, keeping empty boxes and using the...

Over the years I have learned to carry Winchesters by having one hand under the base of the bottle and the other hand on the neck. I feel perfectly safe doing it this way. Even getting the bottle out of store before putting it into a safety carrier it is important to carry it correctly. Regarding ke...

I have a chap in Footscray, at Victoria University, who sells frozen rats - Male, Female and Pregnant. This year's charge is $8.50 per rat. They are frozen and he will send, somehow. I am fortunate that I just go and pick them up from him. His name is Ian Johnson. His email address is: ian.johnson@v...

G'day All,
Last week I asked about checking a stain for blood and got wonderful results.
Can anyone please give me some more experiments with fake blood; I already have splatter. Is there anything else?
Thank you
Maree

Sorry, Rowann.
Maree

Thanks to all of you for your help. And Rowan, you have given me plenty of ideas.
Maree

Thanks Noona but I have plenty of recipes for making blood. What I seriously need is to be able to test 2 splotches on the floor and have one determined to be blood.
What can I do for that without using the chemicals mentioned earlier.
Maree

Of course, one teacher needs to be able to check that a particular stain is blood and not vegemite in the Forensics Unit.. Does anyone out there do this? If so, what chemicals do you use other than leucomalachite green which is a carcinogen.
Can anyone help.
Thank you
Maree