Australia's Science Forum

I've been told that distilled water is slightly acidic because it absorbs carbon dioxide from the air. Our distilled water has a low pH too.

Hi mother, We use junket tablets which are bought from the supermarket. The tablets contain the enzyme Rennin. We make the junket up with milk according to the directions on the packet. The rennin curdles the milk by transforming caseinogen into insoluble casein, producing a jelly-like product. We h...

Hi All, Does anyone have any hints on removing a jammed glass stopcock from a separating funnel? The chemistry teacher here suggested putting the whole thing in oil, letting it soak, and then tapping the stopcock gently and repeatedly with a rubber mallet. But he said that it is a labourious process...

Hi Judy, I found the following on a site the other day. I haven't tried it myself. Of course there is a chance of contamination of the plates....but it may be of use to you anyway. Hope this helps! http://www.science-projects.com/PlateDrying.htm How to Dry Agar Plates Aseptically (This procedure wil...

Hi DJ, I had the same problem last time I was buying glassware detergent. Eventually I bought Pryoneg from our local cleaning supply company. It is quite sudsy but I just use half of what it recommends and it is an OK compirimise. Not to sudsy but still enough cleaning power. I like pryoneg a lot mo...

Hi All,
Thank you so much for your help. I shall try putting the lemons in series, and also the potato clock.
Thanks again! Kate

We recently did the swap from LPG to natural gas and had to purchase all new bunsens. The LPG bunsens give a MASSIVE flame when used with natural gas and I think they are too dangerous. You can get the LPG bunsens modified for natural gas (I think that the opening for the gas is reduced in size) How...

Hi All, I am trying to find something that can be powered by an orange or lemon. The orange is measuring 0.5 volts on the multimeter. I have bought some low volt (2v) LED globes but they cannot be powered by the orange. I also have a lowe volt motor which also can not be powered. Does anyone have an...

Hi Villers, I also have to purchase items for practicals. It says in my award that "when an employee, in the course of their duty, is required by the employer to go any place away from their usual place of employment, they shall be paid all expense reasonably incurred". It also states in t...

Hi Mother, I beleive that you do need to sterilize the nutrient agar if you are using sterile disposable agar plates, because otherwise the nutrient agar will contain microbes from the distilled water and surrounding environment. Also at a recent lab assistants meeting that I attended it was recomme...