Australia's Science Forum

Many years ago, a teacher used to make an alloy with lead shot, I think. I can't remember the other ingredient, but possibly tin. He used to use crucibles but as I couldn't get it out when set, I gave him the crucible lids, which we had in abundance, and could then be thrown out. To stir I think he ...

Compactus cannot be used for chemicals. Equipment only. Are you a govt school?

Before our refurb we had 4 labs and 2 fume hoods. Now have 3 wet and one dry lab and 1 fume hood between new preproom and one lab. BUT we still have 2 old labs as well and a fume hood in each of those. Students now down to 560. The thing is you must have access to a fume cabinet from a preproom. You...

Does the teacher know what he/she is asking for? Maybe they want to start up a sideline business taking photos of funny places. Oh dear, my imagination is running wild! Whatever...it would be a bit expensive for a school though, wouldn't it?

Well it says in the CSIS on the DET web site, that it can be used by seniors, albeit 2ml per student the suggested maximum, and in a fume cupboard or well ventilated area. The amount per student precludes its use as a preservative I imagine.

I keep the cords plugged in and wrapped around the power pack. I remember when we got them,thinking the cords will disappear, but touch wood, we have never lost one and it has been many years. Good luck

Ours are only the regular ones bought fairly cheaply through either qstores or a science supply company. As they are fairly cheap I replace them when the teachers complain: probably every three years or so. Sharpening would not be worth it for the type of scissors we have. I know hairdressers have t...

Ours are made from strong fencing wire. The ag assistant makes them for us. But they are only half metre x half metre. The metre ones were too wobbly and easily bent and a pest to store. Hence the half metre ones and they work well. Mind you quite a few have found their way into trees in the past.

What a surprise!

I don't think they will defrost in the fridge overnight. I would be getting them out now (at room temp) for a quite few hours and putting them back in the fridge overnight.

Thanks guys

Hi there, I am from a NSW Govt school, and as such use the Chemical Safety in Schools manuals and the Working in Science manual as my reference for SOP. These are obviously written by the Department and I guess should be followed. It would seem a lot of private schools also use the Chemical Safety i...

I too would like some advice about resistors, if anyone understands them. Our old ones 2, 5 and 10ohm ones seem to be burnt out. We have the sliding variable ones too, which are fine, but the teacher wanted known resistances like the old ones. So I was looking at purchasing new multi-ohm ones but th...

Since when would a teacher know what is in our job description, when half the time we don't know. Tell the teacher it is in their job description to know how to use science equipment. As I have said many times, we are basically gofers. Whilst we can and do think, I say we are not paid enough to thin...

We haven't done that experiment. Platinum wire costs a bomb, so can't imagine what "rod" would cost. Are you sure you have to do it?

I get Chemtalk "up" each morning along with other favourite sites, so it is always at hand, as it is such a useful site. Welcome Tekie

We do the same as Lada. And get similar results.

I'm actually not sure about the limewater, whereas there were issues with the others. Nothing seems to pop into the old brain, so I'm pretty sure it was just a space issue.
Cheers

Well, mine are in 500ml bottles mainly, and in a cupboard. That is for the made up 0.1M chemical solutions, they are in alphabetical order. Different strengths are behind the main bottle. EXCEPT: I have Hydrochloric acid solutions and sulfuric acid solutions in a cupboard of their own. I also keep N...

Hydrochloric acid is the only chemical that we have that comes in over 2 litres. It comes in a 20 litre plastic drum with a tap on it. Now I think of it I always tip the drum up after use, so the tap sits on top of the drum, so it probably used to leak. This way all I have to do is tip the drum over...