Australia's Science Forum

I have a lab coat but prefer to use an apron, it gets too hot here in Mount Isa for lab coats!

This reminds me of an experience I had with dry ice! A couple of years ago I took some unused dry ice home for my kids to have a play with. I went out only to return to neighbours complaining of the earthquake and extremely loud band when they decided to do the same thing as you did 8O . Yes it rips...

Where do I start! We refurbished two years ago, going from one science lab and a dungeon (aka prep room) to three labs and two prep rooms. Firstly don't assume the architect knows about science labs, our original plans had acid stored at eye level :oops: . The architect was a bit condescending about...

Hi

How do you usually kill the insects for senior biology students insect collection? I have been putting them in the freezer, but now I have come across using ethyl acetate in a killing jar. Any help would be most appreciated

thanks
Pilar

We are doing the making rayon prac, dissolving tissue in 50% ammonia and then squirting the solution into 2M sulfuric acid. The text says to use tissue paper, I tried it with that and then with paper towel. The paper towel worked better but was a bit harder to dissolve. Has anyone had success with o...

No you cant beat the copper sulphate crystals, we are lucky here in Mount Isa, we have a copper sulphate producing plant, so I was able to get buckets of the stuff free from the kind people there \:D/ . Over time we made some huge crystals and I spent lots of time making sat'd CuSO4! The depleted so...

Thanks Lisa that would be most appreciated . I did think it would be a good idea for the teacher to dispense the NaOH, and yes I was a bit concerned about the heating bit. My fax here is (07) 47435013.

I have a year 10 prac to make soap, using veg oil, ethanol and 6M NaOH. The mixture needs to be heated for 30 minutes in a water bath but another recipe I found said to heat in a beaker. I will try it myself today but I was wondering if anyone has done this prac, how it worked best, and how dangerou...

How about the covert prac request, when teacher comes into prep room in the middle of their lesson "looking" for stuff for a prac they have decided to do during that lesson. Next minute you find yourself getting it all together because you know they have no idea where anything is and you d...

The prac in the book actually asks to test the solution with pH paper, and if it is still acidic to add more CuO. That is where I found it got to the stage I couldnt add any more CuO and the solution was still acidic not pH7

Hello all labbies I have a prac to make copper sulphate with 1M sulphuric acid and copper (II) oxide. The procedure involves heating the sulphuric to 60C then adding CuO until no more dissolves and the pH is neutral. The solution is then filtered and the filtrate copper sulphate is evaporated to all...

We refurbised here two years ago, with three new labs and two prep rooms. I made sure of three things, hot water (I had to boil kettle to wash up before), a deep sink (and the architect asked me why I would need that!) and a dishwasher. The one we purchased was an Electrolux - dishlex, purchased fro...

Here is a copy of the risk assessment form we use. It is mainly tick and flick to make it easy to use, but it is the teachers responsibility to complete. There are hazards aside from chemicals so we have tried to incorporate these aswell. After seeing other RA here, I may modify this to include &quo...

The following link for a reagent and dye solubility chart is very useful when trying to work out quantities for saturated solutions.

http://www.ihcworld.com/_technical_tips ... _chart.htm

Hi All

Does anyone know where I can get vial/specimen jars, the small ones with a push in lid, not a screw top. I have these for small quantities of powder chemical. The screw top ones dont fit in my drawers and I am fast running out of the other ones

Hi We purchased ours from Mauray Designs, 5 Cirrus Street, Victoria Point, Qld 4165. Phone: 07 32078210. They were $13 , PVC, come in a variety of colours, and are adjustable, so they are good for all sizes of students. I tried samples of aprons from other suppliers but they were huge and very long ...

If you go to the Children's Medical Research Institute web site, http://www.cmri.com.au, there is a DIY DNA Extraction recipe, it is quite good as it has a print out which also contains questions for the students. The DNA is extracted from onion and works quite well. Follow the link to community out...

I was wondering where you go to get information about chemical disposal. I have a lot of calcium in old metal containers and would like to get rid of some as we rarely use it. Chemwatch is not much help, can anyone help me with what to do or where to look for correct disposal?

Thanks

We need to purchse buchner funnel filtration set up. I remember that it attaches to the lab taps and you need the "thing" that goes from the flask to the tap to create the vacuum. I have looked in my supply catalogues but I am a bit confused about what exactly to buy to connect it all up. ...

I have a prac which requires schulze's solution for the identification of cellulose. I cant seem to find any references to how it is made or how to use it. Can anyone help?