Australia's Science Forum

The lab assistant that was here before me, in her infinite wisdom, brought Concentrated Hydrochloric Acid from one of the farm suppliers in a 15 Litre container that then needed to be "tapped" . "It was cheaper that way" was her excuse 8O :w00t: The tap that was put in it was ver...

Hi Barbara, I actually hadn't thought of it before as a cluster, with a female staff of over 50 it seemed to be within the range of women that are likely to get breast cancer and had been over more than 15 years. Actually when I was diagnosed there were a lot of questions that I had expected to be a...

I have just returned from a fantastic school excursion (From Tamworth to the Gold Coast Via Ularu, 8500 km!) and am now catching up on messages from the last 3 weeks. I am the second lab assistant here at Oxley to have been diagnosed with Breast Cancer as have 2 of the Science teachers. This is over...

We use brown paper to test for oil in the Senior Biology and year 8. It goes sort of translucent when there is oil present. I refused to use the Sudan III because of its carcinogenic properties (been through that once and don't wish to do so again) and also because it is almost impossible to clean u...

Our kids only ever view red phosphorous.

Wendy

Does anyone have the small benchtop "Bebe" Thor dishwasher from Science supply? I have been given the go ahead to get one as I haven't room for a domestic size model, but was wondering how it performs. Though ANYTHING would be better than doing the washing up from 7 labs! Wendy ( with dish...

Hi All, Welcome back for another year!. This year for the first time in many years we are doing Earth and Environmental Science in Year 11 carrying on to Year 12 next year. The teacher has not taught this subject for many years also. I was wondering if there are any of you out there that ofer this s...

Would that kill all the lavae that are still in the carcasses which I figures are about 10 metres away up the flue?
The dead birds would still have to be dealt with to prevent re-infestation I suppose.

Wendy

I also have a major problem with my fume hood but of an entirely different nature.(Nature being the operative word!) My flue is infested with hide beetles!! The beetles have laid there eggs presumably in the carcasses of birds that have been trapped in the flue. These have now metamorphosed into pup...

It was fun at St Marys and we did have a safe trip home. The Science teachers are having an inservice this afternoon and want me to tell them what I did and pass on my new resources. I meet quite a lot of Chem talk people, as Pommy said, mainly due to Lizzie B, she is such a wonderful person. The be...

Hi Sue,

Couldn't seem to get the personal message sent.

Thanks for the fax, it arrived while I was down at St Mary's. They all look good.

Wendy

Hi Sue,

I'd love a copy of that fax also if I may.

67663937

Thanks

Wendy

Hi Robb, I would aslo like to join the line and say "Me To" At the moment, our head teacher, despite me talking to him about it does not see the need for risk assessments on our pracs. I think he mumbled something about not signed off by the Teachers Federation, but i"m not sure. I'd ...

Hi All, Several of us are coming down from Tamworth for the conference next week. I am going to be staying down for the weekend to see my sister who lives in North Richmond and was wondering if there was anybody who will be there who could give me a lift back that direction on Friday afternoon. I wa...

We often do the rainbow prac, especially with the year 6 kids coming up for an afternoon of fun in the various departments. I have broken it down into large testtube quantities. fill a large test tube to about 2.5 cm from the top with distilled/tap water add a couple of drops of universal indicator ...

I used 200 ml 0f 0.02 M Potassium Permanganate acidified with 3ml of Sulfuric acid. That was astisfactory for Ashley so it should be right for just about anyone! (year 12 chem?)

Wendy

I'm working my way through my recipe book, re-writing the recipes for the girl who is to replace me next year for 4 weeks, as they are in a mess and not at all user friendly. This time I'm only including the ones that we actually use. I've come to Tin II Chloride which in my notes and In the "M...

Thanks Rosalie for the fax. The "mini-B' glasses look good and on their website they mention a Micro Junior Safety glasses. I have written to them asking which would be smaller as I will need the smallest available. Ian, I hadn't thought of swimming goggles, they would probably work also. Wendy

Hi All, I have just discovered that next years Yr7 intake includes a little girl that is only the size of a 5-6 yr old. Our safety goggles are far too big on her, does anybody know of a supplier that has very small safety goggles. My catalogues all seem to have just the normal sized ones. Maybe we w...

This years lot of Aus-pens came with reversable tips, rather a messy job to turn them around when the piont is stuffed. I just tried to do it to see how you went about it and have ink all over my hands and my trousers where I dropped the nib onto them!!! We have used them for the last 2 years and fo...