Australia's Science Forum

One of our teachers has been complaining about the inaccuracies of our thermometers. He says they are reading 104 deg C when the water is boiling. I have put one in a few samples of different temperatures (without going to the trouble of boiling the water over a bunsen) along with the temperature pr...

I believe it was quite common for skeletons to be obtained from India, especially in the days when plastics weren't as good as they are now. Smart thinking not to have just buried it! Police would have had a field day!

Hi All Anyone bought any decent banana plugs recently? I have a mixed bag of different styles, but they all have one thing in common - they are too thin for the slots in the equipment they should be plugged into. I have been prising them open with a small screw driver, but this is driving me insane!...

Labbie wrote:Are most of us back on chemtalk. or are some of you still having problems??????????

It does seem a bit quiet, Sue.

Am I special? No problems here - logged on with out issue and everything looks the same!

Fridges work like really good eskies - they are very well insulated and things left in them can take some time to defrost. However, I'd be reluctant to take the risk with other people and I think you would be better off throwing things out and starting again. The quality of the specimens may be comp...

Wouldn't the office staff have been too busy? :giggle: Especially if there was no power and their computers weren't working! Good thing that there was no damage to buildings. I'm doing okay - off to physio again this afternoon, it is helping but it is a nuisance when I have others things I could be ...

All was going well here. So pleased that the heavy rain came when I was back at work, not whilst I was camping! So was in a fairly good mood travelling to work on Tuesday until... Slowed down for an orange light, came to a stop (by then it was red) when - BANG! Someone behind me really wasn't paying...

I was told by Work, Health & Safety directorate that I shouldn't be doing anything about GHS and labelling until the new CSIS package comes out. I have been told to use the CSIS package although I am in a Catholic school. I would be concerned that the labelling changes need to be implemented by...

You are not alone. I've tried contacting Chemwatch and they think all is good. They just don't get it! I was trying to get a head start on labelling, looks like we'll all be doing it at the last minute. Not happy.

I know there are lots of posts about wastes, but I couldn't find anything specific to my problem. In the past, I and the previous labbie disposed of chemical waste from the ester prac by evaporating on an absorbent material. I've now been asked to store this waste in an organics waste bottle. I admi...

Mmmmm, campfire magic trick, love the idea! Too bad I don't have any (or is that a good thing?)

Hi All
Jazz helped me out with a recipe. Make up agar, add the phenolphthalein as usual. If it is pink add a few drops of HCl until clear.

I've tried this and it worked fine, even with the addition of a few drops of acid, all has set properly.

Thanks Jazz!

The biology teachers want to try the reverse of the normal phenolph agar prac by using agar made with HCl and the students putting NaOH to look at surface area.

Has anyone done it this way? I was just thinking of using the same amount of HCl as I would normally use of NaOH.

Liz I am looking forward to it. Will report back to Chemtalk afterwards. We might be able to get the workshop presenters you mentioned to run workshops at the ASET conference in September. Hope things are on the improve with you Margaret Hi Margaret Hope you start to feel better soon. Try to take s...

Wayne, check this again. Someone I know from an independent school near here got the same email but has now found out it still will be $80-ish for the subscription.

Not sure how she found out the correct information.

I too, get annoyed Narelle, with getting poor quality equipment even when paying a good price. Off the top of my head, the trundle wheels are about $60-70 each and they don't "break", they just fall apart. The other thing that annoys me is buying equipment that has been incorrectly describ...

Just wondering if anyone had any suggestions for repairing trundle wheels. The students are very good at losing the box on the wheel that make the "click" sound. Trouble is, they are not very good at finding them. The teachers don't seem to be checking that they are missing before returnin...

It would make sense. Just looking at it from a risk assessment point of view (without reading the standard) you would want the cylinders isolated from the students.

Currently printing mini sds which I laminate a give out to the chemistry class. How is it when you are searching for a chemical eg magnesium chloride 0.1M and when it gives you the drop down list and you pick the one you want it still gives you a huge list including stuff that isn't even relevant a...