Australia's Science Forum

Making Zinc Cream (Barrier Cream) 42g vaseline (petroleum jelly) 8g zinc oxide Place ingredients in 250ml beaker. Heat GENTLY over a bunsen burner until vaseline starts to melt. As soon as it starts to melt, begin to stir mixture gently. Keep heating gently. Stir mixture steadily until a smooth pas...

It hasn't even reached the in basket yet. I've been pestering all the appropriate people and no-one has seen it yet.
Lyn.

I still haven't seen hide nor hair of the survey and it was supposedly being sent out two and a half weeks ago to the Northern Territory.
Lyn

There are just under 600 students here. I have three labs, two prep rooms and a storage area for flammables, corrosives etc, on the senior campus and two labs and a prep room and store room on the middle school campus. I use my vehicle to travel between the two campuses. Y7 - 4 classes one of which ...

Cindy, I'm glad he had the decency to apologise. Have a good afternoon (what's left of it) and a good weekend.
Lyn.

Begs the question as to why he can't find one himself. Bad day or not! No need to make your day unpleasant Lyn. P.S. Check the following sites I have just found. http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/genetics/biotech/gels/agardna.html for Agarose Gel Electrophoresis of DNA and http://www.protocol-onl...

Has any lab person sighted this survey yet?
Lyn.

Just a word of advice. Keep enough rock samples to have at least ten of each and some extra for those samples that kids seem fond of pocketing. You might be able to donate what you don't need to other schools. Some time back I went on long service leave at the same time as we got a new science coord...

Ammonium dichromate is orange in colour and when piled in a small mound and lit it burns and leaves a greenish ash. It is carcinogenic as is its residue. I have used potassium permanagate (3tspns) on a bed of sand shaped into a mound with glycerol (3-5ml) poured into a shallow indentation made in th...

Check the internet - climate status investigation - click on High school, Grades 9-12 - click on Week 2 - "It's a Gas" gives instructions on how to make methane gas with a 50/50 mix of sodium acetate and soda lime and has diagram of equipment setup. The site is worth a browse for info on g...

Don't throw them out. They are Kipp's apparatus used for making a gas from a liquid and a solid. Mine is made of some kind of plastic product which doesn't allow you to watch the reaction occuring between the solid and the liquid. With any luck you should also have the funnel with an airlock which s...

I have a recipe for Tin (II) Chloride 0.25M Add 56g to 100ml of concentrated hydrochloric acid then make up to 1 litre with distilled water. Add a few pieces of tin to the stock bottle to preserve the solution. Recipe was sourced from two different lab manuals. Can someone provide the recipe which u...

Buffer Solution; for complexometric titrations pH 10. Dissolve 6.75g of ammonium chloride in 57cubic cm of 0.880 aqueous ammonia and dilute to 100 cubic cm. Above recipe from "School Science Laboratories - A handbook of design,management and organisation" published in 1978. The chapter is ...

We have used small beads attached with margarine to the metal rods. Like most things it is a little messy but fairly easy to clean up afterwards. Apply margarine with a spatula or paddle pop stick depending on how much washing up you want to do.
Lyn.

Just google - Board of studies NSW. There are HSC exam papers going back to the mid 90's. Have fun.
Lyn.

"Screaming Jelly Babies" Safety: 1. Make sure test tube is squeaky clean. Any trace of an oxidizable material can cause an explosion. 2. Surround the apparatus with safety screens. 3. Ensure the pupils/audience are seated several metres away and that they are wearing eye protection. Mater...

Try Haines, they carry an Electric Circuit Simulator. Our demo model gets used occasionally if the teacher can figure out how it works. Make sure you make a backup copy of the instructions.
Lyn.

Should have taken a longer time than a week Richard. There is a lot to see up here. Hope you catch an extremely large barra and have an enjoyable time in our top end weather. Also hope your mates boat is bigger than the crocs you might encounter.
Lyn.

Ticker timers use the AC setting on power packs. If you plug them into the DC setting they refuse to work. Use ticker timer tape and show the speed of acceleration. Don't forget to put the carbon paper in the right way.
Lyn.

Went shopping in Woolies this morning for Science and while browsing found the food colour. Thought I'd stock up before they pulled the plug again.Grabbed the last of the red, blue and some yellow. Checkout lady looks puzzled when scanning the colour and says she needs proof of age. I looked at her ...