Australia's Science Forum

mtg wrote: ↑12 Feb 2024, 15:08 Welcome back to you all too. Invite all your labbie friends to get back onto chemtalk, I miss the daily discussions. It's a lonely job when you're the only school lab tech for miles.

I was thinking this yesterday as well! Very quiet. Perhaps everyone has hit the ground running this year?

I did some further googling after posting here (I had done a little bit before asking) and found that Iron (III) oxide turns black at before 500deg then back to reddish brown at room temp so I'm going to give that a go.... I can remember years ago Smiley brought it up (sometime between 2007 and 2013...

Hi everyone, I need your help! What is a compound that changes colour when heated but doesn't actually undergo a chemical reaction? It just changes colour and then as it cools it returns to the original colour. I'm having a mental blank. I haven't done this one for a few years and despite searching ...

has anyone just made up a gelatine based jelly instead of jelly packets? would you bother flavouring it?

It's lumina which is an Aldi brand. I have worked out they've changed the brand name and some of the specs but managed to find a manual for a more recent model. It does not go up to the recommended psi but there's not much I can do about that! The first batch has just finished so when it has cooled ...

So the time has come for me to pressure cook the life out of the agar plates... I haven't done it since being at this school and it's been more than 10 years since I left my previous school... I had an old pressure cooker I used on the hotplate there and would just have it cooking away for a very lo...

Thank you! I had checked the Science ASSIST page but missed that bit. I must have looked at a different document (or tuned out as I was scrolling :coffee: :boring: oops!). I have one teacher who I am sure will want to do toilet doors/taps and who knows, maybe even the toilet itself so I want to have...

OK so I know this has been discussed before but do you think I can find it??? (Is it really only Monday?) What are the current rules around kids swabbing surfaces to grow whatever microbes they manage to find? I know not to swab humans (or cough/sneeze onto plates), to use the parafilm to seal plate...

We go by RiskAssess as well. CSIS hasn't been updated for decades, the Dept must be waiting for a legal case before they start?? It's bound to happen, one day, sadly. Had to laugh at this, but it isn't really a laughing matter! I went to a general WHS course run by AIS and, can you believe, they sa...

Thanks Anna Z - This is the list from RiskAssess: "May cause cancer Suspected of causing genetic defects May damage the unborn child May be harmful if inhaled May be harmful if swallowed Causes damage to organs through prolonged or repeated exposure Causes mild skin irritation May cause allergy...

Do you still use nickel sulfate? I'm just printing out some new labels and according to risk assess the 0.1M is red! Is this correct? My very outdated original version of CSIS says 7-12. I am happy to go with the red dot but was just surprised and now I don't know if it is worth even having it in th...

Ditto what Prima said! Mine just arrived today. I can't imagine how monotonous that must have been to put all the sets together but such a wonderful resource and I love that it is attached to the school only.

Anna Z wrote: ↑02 Nov 2023, 07:16 Hi all, just thought thought I'd stick this on here https://elementsets.net/. they are so cool and free.

Thanks Anna for sharing the info, too!

Thank you, Stuart. The booklets look amazing! I love the teaching ideas as well. I can't wait to receive them. They will be so well loved by our students and teachers!

Hi have half an A4 copy paper box full of these with no lids. IMG_0216.jpeg Any suggestions for use? They haven’t been used in the nearly three years I’ve been here. If they’ve got a good use I’m happy to look at getting lids for them rather than disposing of them. My only thought so far is the rust...

I couldn’t get chicken liver or lamb liver so I got a lamb kidney instead! Can you see any reason this wouldn’t work the same as the liver? It’s going in a blender and then filtered through a chux so the nephrons shouldn’t really create a problem, or would they? I am seriously doubting my brain at t...

These look great!! Thank you for sharing! I hope I got my request in soon enough…

I run with the idea that the senior students don't remember what they did in junior years. Once had a Bio class insist they had never used microscopes before! We just stick with strawberries. I buy frozen ones so they are on hand. We often do this prac out of strawberry season and the frozen ones a...

When it's DNA extraction time, we have junior classes use strawberries. What do you use for senior bio? It seems a bit boring to do the same thing. The teacher has requested chicken liver and the method requires boiling the blended mixture for 5 minutes :yuck: ). I have suggested blended banana (so ...

I haven't actually looked at a mini SDS and am aware they don't meet requirements. They would only be in addition and it is for the Woodwork room where they only have a few things and have the SDS available in a folder as well as online but the teacher wanted something that was a bit easier to find ...