Australia's Science Forum

I think I'd better not use the microwave, as the Science staff use it for food. (it's in my prep room but they heat their lunch in it). The pressure cooker purchase has been rejected, and I have been told to do it in bleach. I will do it in a big tub in an out of bounds area where it can be left ov...

Can I use a microwave (with the plates in an oven bag)? I read in another post that this is possible. My only concern would be making sure it is hot enough for long enough without destroying the microwave. I don't know if autoclave tape works in the microwave but that would at least tell you if it ...

Side note: The plates shouldn't be completely sealed by sticky tape. There should be a gap. If you're using parafilm, it goes all the way around. It's to do with tape creating an anaerobic environment and growing the wrong type of nasties. So are you saying being sealed with parafilm is ok because ...

I haven't bought any but westlab have a sale advertised via email this week for single channel pipettes. If you search that in their website they should come up or look through their 30 days of discovery, day 8.

Side note: The plates shouldn't be completely sealed by sticky tape. There should be a gap. If you're using parafilm, it goes all the way around. It's to do with tape creating an anaerobic environment and growing the wrong type of nasties.

Yep, cheap pressure cooker and oven bags. I have purchased some autoclave tape as well (so I can be sure it has reached the right temp for long enough) but haven't used it yet.

we use 0.001M. I try to get the teachers to make the kids wear gloves for it as well just as an extra precaution even though it is very dilute.

Can anyone recommend where to buy retort clamps? They don’t get used often so we probably don’t need the best quality… The best I’ve found so far is science supply for $10.50 each (cork lined 4 prong). I’m hoping to get 30 of them.

Anna Z wrote: ↑09 May 2023, 09:32 We don't even really soak.... students dip, swirl around a bit then burn away.

Perfect! I'll plan on that for next time!

Marama T wrote: ↑09 May 2023, 08:55 Why do you need to seal the jar? I just soak them in a beaker.

For leaving them overnight, mostly, but also easy transport to the labs. How long do the paddle pop sticks need to be immersed for so they don't burn too soon?

For those who do the paddle pop sticks/toothpicks in a specimen jar to soak, what sizes do you use? The 120ml specimen jar is not quite big enough to seal it with the paddle pop sticks inside, but too big for the mini paddle pop sticks. The smaller jars also don't seal with the mini paddle pop stick...

Does anyone know if berocca still comes in cans suitable for this purpose? 2012 was a long time ago!

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.

Do you plug into the AC or DC power supply? Neither seem to be working! 12V with H2SO4. I've cut and stripped the wires on the platinum electrodes as they looked a bit broken and rusty but that hasn't made a difference.

Ok now for the next stage of my prep-room revamp.... how do you store your droppers? As in shelving solutions. I have the unitrays for keeping sets together. I googled dropper storage system just to see what came up and got a heap of YouTube videos for Minecraft :cheesy: Not quite what I was looking...

Thank you!

Interesting... That's what we had at my prevous school (0.1 and 1M) but they seem to use a variety of concentrations here! Maybe because they were just "there"? I don't know... we've got 5M, 6M and 2.5M of some things.... I just thought maybe things had changed over the years I wasn't work...

Do you guys swap your droppers out for caps for all concentrations of acid or only the stronger ones? Just the stronger ones for us. Is 4M HCl ok or would you put a cap on that? Thanks! I'm slowly re-labelling and cleaning out the acids and don't want to lose any more droppers to acids destroying t...

Do you guys swap your droppers out for caps for all concentrations of acid or only the stronger ones?

Ours are just in a tub under each station. Bunsen, tripod, heatproof mats, etc all in one tub and it all gets thrown back in at the end of the lesson. Usually the time taken to clean up after a prac is long enough for the bunsen to cool down so it hasn't been a problem. If the prac runs a bit late t...