Drying Oven

[judygee]

Hi All - Welcome back to the new term. I'll get straight to the point - I'm here to pick your brains! We have had a drying oven donated by the local Water resources lab which is closing down. We have never had one, always used the Incubator or the Dessicator. Don't even know what it looks like yet, however everyone very keen to use it! There is a prac that the General Science teacher would like to do, drying out pieces of fruit , vegies and various meats. What I would like to know is what temperature is a 'low' temperature and how long does it take, are we talking days or weeks? Any input of any kind would be greatly appreciated. Cheers. Judy

[smeee]

We have just done this prac with Yr 11 Senior Science - 2 classes - in incubator @ 30degreesC. Both classes got good results in 3 days.
I gave each group a large glass petri dish lined with baking paper to put their food samples on. Easy to clean up afterwards.

[dime]

May I suggest you don't do meat. Did that here against my better judgement years ago. IT STINKS. Just like road kill after a couple of days. Then took a while to get the smell out of the oven.

[judygee]

Thanks a lot for the advice Smee and Dime your comments duly noted. Like the idea of the baking paper and will definitely talk teacher out of using meat. Thanks - Cheers Judy.