Australia's Science Forum

I contacted the local council and they told me to take it to the local tip - mention to the guy on the gate that it was unwanted chemicals from a school. I did that, and for no charge I can offload my unwanted stuff. I have to have less than 12 bottles at a time, packed in a strong cardboard box - l...

Sorry, didn't see the punch line - NOT GARDENS! Ignore my blurb!

Hi Dolphinscales, We use the following method to make small crystal gardens for the students. They are told what colours will come from which chemical, and then get to choose their own colours. Good luck with this. YOU WILL NEED: 1) One small, clear container (100ml to 150ml) with a screw top lid. 2...

I am sure I glanced at and missed something about lids for dropper bottles just recently, can anybody tell me - was it putting real lids on droppers and saving the dropper connections? Where do we purchase "real lids" for droppers? Thanks for any help.

Our Science building is on two levels - I have a dumb waiter which was installed when the school was built. I couldn't do my job without it, as there are always heavy things to be carried up and down stairs. However, if an item won't fit in the lift, then it is up to the teachers to carry it. I don'...

I buy boxes of 100, and use latex axamination, lightly powdered, non-sterile. gloves. They are available from Q-Stores. About $6-20 for a box of 100. Phone toll free: 1800-424-613, in Sydney, NSW

That is on page 136 in "The Laboratory - a science reference and preparation manual for schools" Preparation: 18g agar 4g sodium hydroxide 1 litre distilled water phenolphthalein indicator 1. Dissolve the sodium hydroxide in approximately 100ml of the water. 2. Boil the remaining wter and ...

I store our tt in the Prep room, and hand them out when required. We store ours in ice cream containers. I always put requests in our weekly newsletters for items such as ice cream containers, corks from winebottles, clean take-away food containers (great for small numbers of tt) and foam, aluminium...

Hi Julia, There is a company in Melbourne (Richmond area) called Mentone Education and they take old skeletons for new (but I am not sure about old REAL skeletons). They gave us $100 refund for our old one (which was headless) and we bought a brand new one a couple of years ago. Perhaps you could co...

Congratulations! I think that is amazing, and wish you all the best for your future studies and work.

Keep up the intelligent answers to our many questions!!

Welcome back everyone! Hope everybody had a long, relaxing, refreshing holiday. Can we put up a picture to be viewed? If so, how is it done? So, how do we know what our ranking is, without actually having to write something? //SPLIT into new topic by adam. Reason: question deserves its own thread.

Just to let you know: I print out - on bright paper, a list of all the glassware prices each year, laminate the page, then tape one onto the classroom desk of every Science teacher. When a student breaks something, we work out whether it was a genuine accident or carelessness/stupidity. If the latte...

You could try purchasing the box from a craft store, or something like Spotlight may have these. Also places such as GoLo or Crazy Clints or those budget shops, which have the boxes (sometimes called shadow boxes, I think). Otherwise, back to Industrial Arts!

Thanks for all the input, I am impressed with your Job description, Bernie. I must update mine, it is extremely basic to that of your one. However, I am including it, so you see how basic and easy my job really is!!! SCIENCE ASSISTANT – JOB DESCRIPTION The Science Assistant is responsible to ...

Does anyone have an actual statement of duties issued by their employer? I didn't have one, so have made my own up from all the various jobs I do. I was wondering how it compares to the job descriptions that you all do. Am happy to post it here, or email it to anyone. Question 2: I am after a statem...

I no longer buy Bromine until a week or so before it is to be used - unless I can beg/borrow some from a nearby school. We had a Bromine spill here last year when one of our teachers broke open a vial and burned his arm. After the FireBrigade and Hazmat people left (nearly 2 hours later) I told the ...

Thanks for the tip - I just searched and found the subject discussed. I am full of enthusiasm for this chore!! (Not!)

Does anyone else have students bring various dead animals which your Head Teacher then decides we should preserve? I get rats, possums, birds, etc., and although I have used Methylated Spirit for this purpose, I find that after 6-12 months it goes very dark, cloudy and makes it very hard to actually...

Hi Rob, I can now usually do a chemical stocktake in a couple of days, but when I first started it took a week or so. I do not use Chemwatch for this, rather a Spreadsheet where I have all my chemicals listed, then quantities, storage place (i.e., Prep Room or Chem store) colour code/DG classificati...

I keep 2 winchester bottles of HCl and NaOH 2Molar and 1Molar solutions on hand at all times. I keep reagent bottles (about 15 of each the above) as well as droppers. We are a 7-12 school, so use quite a lot. I usually make the solutions up every semester.