Australia's Science Forum

Hi Robyn (nice name),
thanks for the info.
Knowing that rubber stoppers are around, I just need to build up my stock of cork ones. It's proving harder than I thought but I may have a lead to some (Science Supply). I'll let you know...
~Robyn

G'day all, would anyone be able to suggest a supplier of standard (18mm ID) test tube corks? They would need to be about 15mm diameter (base) x 20mm diameter (top) x 27 mm long. I am amazed that Q Stores NSW do not carry this size and also how few suppliers stock corks at all. We have some, so they ...

Hi Cheltie, my workmate came up with a good idea. She uses medium grade sandpaper wrapped around a wood block. Still needs elbow grease but is much quicker than what we did before. For copper electrodes, after sandpapering, a quick rub with "Tarn-off" brings them up beautifully. Cheers, ~R...

Hello Wendy and welcome to the website. It's great, eh? We use liquid nitrogen about once a year for dramatic experiments such freezing a banana and using it to hammer a nail into wood as well as in superconductor experiments. We purchased a Dewars flask, bought second hand from our liquid Nitrogen ...

Hello judygee, It would be ideal to have some sterilised McCartney bottles prepared. These are meant for cultures and being glass are easier to effect transfers. If it were me, I would then prepare my workspace. Wipe the bench space down with about 70% methylated spirits. Close any doors to eliminat...

Hi All, please bear in mind that, if just about ANY concentration of sodium hydroxide (Drano) gets into anyone's eyes (ie. if they are NOT wearing safety glasses), you only have SECONDS in which to act. Get the person to a safety shower or eyewash station and wash the eye for at least 15 minutes wit...

Hi All, since the Chemwatch CD for us had a use by date, we now access Chemwatch Chemgold 2 via the internet daily. The AIS has negotiated a contract with Chemwatch where registered independant schools can gain access to the Chemwatch website via a user name and password. All functions previously ac...

Hi All,
as most technicians agree, we don't want mercury thermometers around when the spirit ones are doing the job.
Other than breaking the mercury ones and adding to the mercury stock bottle, does anyone have any ideas as to what to do with them?
Cheers,
~Robyn

G'day all, my chemistry teacher would like me to make up bromine water by dissolving a 1mL vial of elemental bromine into some hexane. This will totally dissolve the bromine and can be added to water as needed. Has anyone else tried this method? Also in the 1mL vial of elemental bromine, what is the...

Hello Bugman,
In January this year we purchased a Thor desktop dishwasher from Serrata P/L in Sydney (phone 02 9651 3033) for approx. $880.
We couldn't be happier - it's cycle is less than 1/2 hour and it does a very good job.
Cheers,
~Robyn

Hi All,
can anyone advise where approx. 1 litre of crude oil can be obtained from?
Otherwise, does anyone have a recipe for artificial crude oil?
Regards,
~Robyn

G'day all,
I wonder if any of my colleagues know of a supplier of TAPERS?
They are slim candles and when new are approx. 23cms long and 7mm thick.
They are very handy for testing for hydrogen and oxygen gases produced in test tubes.
~Robyn

Hello m,
it is years since our school has done rat dissections, however they may still be available from the Blood Bank in Sydney CBD.
Good luck,
Robyn

Thanks to all for their valuable suggestions as to how to repair broken columns in spirit thermometers. Other than heating the thermometer in hot oil, we found that bouncing the thermometer onto a folded newspaper to shake the spirit down as far as possible, then heating, worked best in 99% of cases...

G'day all,
can any of my colleagues help with ideas for reuniting disjointed columns in spirit thermometers??
~Robyn

//EDITED by adam. Reason: make topic subject more descriptive.

Many thanks to Denise Armstrong from Mitchell High School, Blacktown for her valuable tip on a bulk distilled water supplier. We have just taken a very prompt delivery from Refresh Pure Water, 3 Salisbury Street, Silverwater of a 20 litre container (with tap) of distilled water. (Phone no. 02 9748 4...

G'day,
What a great way to communicate!
Can anyone inform me if there is a bulk supplier of distilled water in Sydney?
We are keen to have, say 50 litres in the prep room on standby without having to distill our own and waste all that lovely tap water in cooling the distillate.
Cheers,
~Robyn