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HELP

Posted: 09 Aug 2011, 11:23
by ellice
Hi gang in lab land,
I am trying to make those heat conduction metal rod things with globs of wax on them, and can't get the wax to stay on the rods!!! Is there a trick to this?
Needed by last lesson today!!
Grateful for any help.
Ellice.

Re: HELP

Posted: 09 Aug 2011, 11:30
by dime
They use drawing pins stuck on with vaseline here. So when the rod heats up the pin drops off. I keep the same drawing pins from year to year in a specimen container as they have vaseline on them, but of course you could use new ones. But the teacher gets the students to stick 'em on as part of the experiment. :D

Re: HELP

Posted: 09 Aug 2011, 11:53
by ellice
I love it!! Thanks Dime.

Re: HELP

Posted: 10 Aug 2011, 07:37
by lurra
I have the ready made ones that you put the wax beads on and put over the bursen burner they work great.

Re: HELP

Posted: 10 Aug 2011, 10:32
by rodannt
Our classes use small balls of plasticine..no complaints so far

Re: HELP

Posted: 10 Aug 2011, 12:05
by sunray18
try blu-tac

Re: HELP

Posted: 22 Jul 2021, 16:06
by RosalieL
Does anyone use the conductivity stars? They have little wells at the end of each metal rod for wax. I’m just wondering what methods you use to get the wax in there? Do you just scrape a bit off the cube of wax that comes with them? They are tiny!

Re: HELP

Posted: 23 Jul 2021, 10:31
by Ines
Hi Rosaliel,
We use Paraffin wax pellets (beaded) from Chem-Supply PT200-500G, the pellets fit nicely in the wells of the conductivity stars. I scrape the wax of the wells after they have been used so that they are clean for the next class.

Re: HELP

Posted: 23 Jul 2021, 10:42
by bigmack
RosalieL wrote: 22 Jul 2021, 16:06 Does anyone use the conductivity stars? They have little wells at the end of each metal rod for wax. I’m just wondering what methods you use to get the wax in there? Do you just scrape a bit off the cube of wax that comes with them? They are tiny!
Just be careful , they weren't all created equally .
we had an old IEC one which we would stick a Bunsen burner under ....it worked fine .

Got some from Serrata and missed the fine print where it said " don't use on a Bunsen , use a spirit lamp " .....they melted :-(

regarding the wax .
When we had one as a teacher demo , we ( I) would stand a match stick in each wax well ( melted in with wax) . The kids could see which order the matches fell . Now we have a class set , the kids just watch and observe the wax as it melts . We have pellets . Some teachers prefer to hand out fresh pellets with each unit , some just say there's enough wax already there for the kids to see melt .

Re: HELP

Posted: 26 Jul 2021, 12:09
by melsid
I light a candle and drip the wax onto the wells, it works every time!

Re: HELP

Posted: 27 Jul 2021, 09:02
by kimmy68
our teachers have changed from using Vaseline to small balls of plasticine, so much easier.

Re: HELP

Posted: 27 Jul 2021, 14:08
by karend
Like the sound of that, Kimmy

Re: HELP

Posted: 02 Aug 2021, 10:27
by RosalieL
We have one star that one of the arms/prongs/whatever you want to call it has snapped off. I am assuming this is irreparable? Seems such a waste to throw it in the bin though…

Re: HELP

Posted: 03 Aug 2021, 12:35
by mtg
melsid wrote: 26 Jul 2021, 12:09 I light a candle and drip the wax onto the wells, it works every time!
Same. I used to put a bit of a toothpick in the wax but so hard, so now just melt a bit of wax too.

Re: HELP

Posted: 25 Aug 2022, 12:35
by Matt_Coffs
Hi everyone,

I'm looking for something to put on the end of our metal conductions stars that won't smoke too much. I've tried candle wax, vaseline and plasticine but all end up smoking a lot before the end of the experiment, even though small amounts are used. Any thoughts?

Thanks

Re: HELP

Posted: 25 Aug 2022, 12:48
by macca
I've only ever used candle wax to hold paperclips on. My problem is metal conduction stars just about to try ordering some more; ones without zinc and fixed so they can't spin them. I've tried so many different ones. Going to give the Westlab ones a go.

Re: HELP

Posted: 02 May 2023, 11:59
by RosalieL
Does anyone know what to burn in the spirit lamp? Is metho hot enough to heat the conductivity stars? Tea light candles aren't hot enough and bunsens are too hot.

Re: HELP

Posted: 03 May 2023, 18:58
by bigmack
Metho is fine Rosalie .
Trick is getting the right distance between the spirit burner flame and the star . Blocks of wood etc work but are a pain .
We ended up getting some adjustable jacks to lift the burners up under the tripods .

You can buy them from usual suppliers for about $70 .-$100 each .
I found some on eBay for $20 each work really well .