Australia's Science Forum

Thanks, I did do a search and found some stuff about using magnets for mercury ones but managed to miss this thread!

Thanks everyone. I'll give it a go when i have some quiet time!

I have a few red alcohol thermometers that have got gaps in the red line. I've tried shaking them like my mum used to do with thermometers when we were kids and that didn't work. I've tried heating them but the whole thing moves up so it doesn't get rid of the gaps. Is there a way of getting rid of ...

Oh, thanks for that. We started it on Monday so I just gave them disposable plastic bowls with seed raising mix in. But the beakers is great because you would be able to see them as soon as they started to sprout. I'll remember that for next year.

I used to have my acids in cabinet that was a proper corrosive cabinet but not vented. It was horrible having to open it as you would get a face full of fumes every time. So I would agree, don't put acids in a cabinet unless it is vented or the only alternative is you sitting in the same room as the...

Over the past couple of years our genetic barley experiment hasn’t gone well. :-( The seeds have gone mouldy or not grown at all. Out of 12 seeds we often only get about 4 to grow. I tried different techniques (lid off, lid on, soak seeds before planting) but didn’t seem to make much d...

I do my manifest in Chemwatch but find the information much easier to manipulate in excel. So I just export it to Excel and then I can put things in different orders and use the SDS date to check my SDS folders. Also, I took from the whole "household" thing that you only don't put it in if...

0.1M BaCl with 0.5M NaOH.

Should barium chloride form a precipitate with sodium hydroxide? The prac we have says it shouldn't but ours is and I just googled it and it says that Barium hydroxide is slightly insoluble.

Yeah, I spoke to someone from Southern Biological. I think maybe I shook to much so the oil couldn't separate properly. I did another one and was more careful and that seemed to work a bit better. Its not a great test though for anything that doesn't form two layers. We were hoping to do a range of ...

I second that. Dissection Connection.

Hi guys I am a bit confused about the fat test with sudan III/sudan IV. Teacher asked to do fat test and on the sheet it said Sudan III. We had sudan IV but apparently that does the same thing so thought I would test it. It was bought ready made up as a 0.5% solution from Southern Biological. It doe...

Missed the poll but no I don't get moved around. I was employed as a lab assistant because of my background in science. I have never worked in anything but labs (since leaving uni anyway) so wouldn't feel comfortable anywhere else. I may help out doing other things, occasionally, if asked nicely :th...

I sound very much like Jen2. For senior years, I keep the PO book, do all the ordering and keep records of it. We are a prep to 12 school and there are separate budgets, which makes it really difficult. If it is stuff for MY's I have to get permission first, even for fairly small expenditures and th...

In regards to taping them around the edges, I meant immediately before them looking at them, not while they are incubating. Just to stop silly ones getting them open too easily. I don't trust the Year 6's enough. They would be disposed of immediately after viewing. Also, there has just been a discus...

Hi guys My year 6 teachers want to do steve spanglers "growing Bacteria" experiment next term. http://www.chemtalk.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=451/lab/experiments/growing-bacteria I am not really happy for them to do it. I know there is some discussion about whether these kinds of expe...

Peoples views seem to differ a bit on this one. Seems they have been told different things by different people. From my understanding of it you need to have a copy of the full SDS in the hazardous substance register. I was told (unofficially) that access to online SDS isn't adequate due to not being...

The people who run Dissection Connection have started a rock one called Rockhoundz. Not sure what they have or the details (they do come up on Google) but the way they run Dissection Connection is pretty good so Rockhoundz should be too.

I use toothpicks. The cheaper the better. Soaked in a conc solution to get the best results. You don't need much for toothpicks, I do it in the little plastic specimen pots. Then the students use tongs to hold the toothpicks in the flame. I don't think you need conc for all solutions but some you do...

This has always been a bit of a bugbear for me. Other classrooms don't have someone to keep them clean and tidy and seem to manage ok so I don't see why I should have to do that for all of the labs. Obviously I look after the "sciencey" side of it but not things like student desks and teac...