Australia's Science Forum

Hi Beaker. This is normal. When I sterilise agar plates in the pressure cooker, I don't use a bag and the plates turn into a sodden, twisted mass of plastic and melted agar, and I've never experienced issues with getting gunk through the cooker valves. (Love your name, by the way. I used to watch th...

Link to some photography trays (Australian company too) https://www.photoresource.com.au/DARKRO ... s/2210.htm

Hi Helen. I've got saturated KI in the chem store, which is quite yellow, and some 1M, which is clear. So your 2M stuff should probably be clear.

Ha! Brilliant, bigmack. I knew there had to be a way.

That's excellent, bigmack, THANKS!

Any ideas on how to make it safe for me to open the flasks after this experiment? Previously I've thoughtlessly opened the flasks without doing anything to kill the microbes. The flasks are too big to fit in the pressure cooker and i guess i'll just put them in a water bath and boil them, unless any...

Thank you both.

I found the decanoic acid on the Chem Supply site https://www.chemtalk.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=451/decanoic- ... -167271000

Does anyone know a quick way to clean copper deposits off carbon rods? I've been using sandpaper and it's messy and tedious.

The stench - what does it smell like?

I was doing a bit of research on Congo red because I'm updating a few labels. Found this - "However, the use of Congo red has long been abandoned, primarily because of its carcinogenic properties. Wikipedia". And this - "Congo Red is an azo dye, it is toxic to many organisms and is a ...

Here in NSW, the department of education calls the role "science assistant".

We're still doing it too. As usual, don't open the plates!

You could try screwing a screw into the rubber stopper and then using that as a handle to pull out the stopper. Good luck.

Thanks Labbie. Very useful, as always.
I learned on Science ASSIST that the waste bottles should be stored according to the same rules for non-waste chemicals i.e. organic waste should be stored in the flammables cabinet. I am definitely going to run out of space in the chemical store room!

I heard back from Teresa Gigengack at Science ASSIST and she said sodium hydroxide solutions need to be stored in chemical-resistant plastic. She wanted more details about particular chemicals I may have questions about, so put a post on the site if you need more information.

We buy a lot of stuff through MTA, particularly now they've taken over Serrata. I've never had any issues with product quality or service.

We've got bottles of 90% acetic acid and 36% hydrochloric acid that arrived from the supplier in plastic. I do not recall from Cert III in lab skills or my on-the-job training anything that was not to be stored in plastic. I'll put a question on science assist and get back to you. Haines have quite ...

Hi bigmack and curie,

Thanks for your help. We did two runs and I refined the technique a bit. I couldn't have done it without your help. I tried to put photos up to show you, but the files were too big. Anyway, much appreciated.

THANK YOU!