Australia's Science Forum

g'day,
ours seems to last at least a year.
We use one 1mL ampoule for about 500mLs distilled water and then keep it in the fridge in a Schott bottle.
~Robyn

Dear Rhonda, thanks for thinking of me and I have replied (regarding horses) in another forum. Regarding the platinum electrodes, we purchased new ones from Serrata which are generous in size, costing about $46 each but worth it as they are going well. I am now using 1 molar sulfuric acid in the vol...

Hi all, replying to Rhonda and all horse owners and lovers. I am so sorry regarding the dilemma you must be all going through regarding the quarantine effects of the equine flu epidemic. I was reading a newsletter from the Equestrian Federation of Australia this morning and fully realised the restri...

Dear Susie,
just read all the above very briefly and did not see a mention of a fume cupboard - (especially in the prep room). Our number one scientific safely tool!
Get as many built-in ones as the budget for your building will allow.
Good Luck and have fun designing your new workplace!
~Robyn

thanks guys - we used to use 2M sulfuric and we got out of the habit. Will try again, thanks
~R

Hi all, can any of my colleagues let me know how long it takes for them to obtain an amount of hydrogen and oxygen with their voltamater? We have new electrodes and although a decent size I would have thought, does not produce as fast as our old (broken) ones. The current size of the platinum in the...

Hello All, Looking through my Catalogues, I can across antiseptic wipes from Livingstone School Supplies and they have wipes for 3 and 5 cents each in packs of 100. I have sent for 1 of each to trial them. My problem with the glasses and 7 labs is that I never know when they were last used and they ...

Dear Rosalie,
I am stunned!!
It doesn't seem to exist either as Stannous, Stannic or Tin nitrate.
Even the Merck Index (the bible of chemical existance) doesn't acknowledge it.
I am sure there is a reason.
Good Luck!
~Robyn

Hi Tammy,
we have used mung bean seeds (available from health food shops) to show effects of light, gravity, etc with quick results. They germinate pretty much overnight
Cheers,
~Robyn

Hi All,
I have recently heard that it would be ideal to have available near the safety glasses cupboard, individual antiseptic wipes for personal hygiene.
Can anyone advise what they are using in this area? I would be very grateful.
Cheers,
~Robyn

Thanks Trudy - I will follow that lead up.
From your estimation of the cost, I reckon I can retire on the platinum on our original pair!
Cheers,
~Robyn

Hi All, can anyone advise me where I can purchase some decent sized platinum electrodes for our voltameter?? My favourite pair (size of platinumum foil is a huge 2cm x 0.5cm and produces the hydrogen & oxygen gases fast ) is on their way out (the glass surrounding tubes are broken). The other pa...

Hi Sue, I have had the same discovery at the backs of cupboards. I used to discard them but really should keep them for when they need a surface to hit tuning forks on and to attach to string for those rotation experiments, etc. They have no use as the original intention as stoppers anymore and I do...

Hi Sue,
when we make up sucrose solutions, or starch or glucose - it seems to keep for many weeks in the fridge. We only discard it if it shows signs of mold.......
Cheers,
~Robyn

Hi All, we have made our own spill kits too and have in them also- Vermiculite (instead of kitty litter), dustpan and broom (or a pooper scooper) nitrile gloves (in the case of a chemical spill) plastic shopping bags (for waste) Pine-O-Clean (a frightening spill can be vomitus, anything to make it s...

Thanks all for your help and replies.
We used Mentholatum brand Stopn'Grow which contains Quinine sulfate as its bitter component.
We have painted red jelly beans with it so the kids avoid that colour amongst the other colours.
They probably will never touch red jelly beans ever again!
Cheers,
~Robyn

Hi Lyn,
the topic is
"To model natural selection"
I guess the teachers are hard up to demonstrate this, having tried the usual.
Red jelly beans are coated with the nasty stuff so they kids will avoid them amongst the others???
Cheers,
~Robyn

Hi All,
I have just been asked for the above.
Can anyone tell me its name so I know what to ask the chemist?
Once I have a name I can look up its MSDS......
Thanks,
~Robyn

Hi Carol, we are in Sydney of course and get our (horse/cow) eyes from a local abattoir. Getting harder to get now and everyone wants them at once. Sheeps eyes became unavailable from this source years ago. The eyes are frozen in batches of 10 and we have to take our luck these days on availability....

Hi Donna, we use chicken wings to observe the structure and function of tendons and ligaments. After this prac, I keep the larger wing bones for eventual treatment with nitric acid to remove the minerals in order to show how the bones can be tied into knots. To store the bones for that future experi...