Australia's Science Forum

I usually store class sets of rock samples in takeaway food containers - they work ok but often come back from classes broken or they perish over time. Does anyone have a better method?

Hi Denise,

I do the same as you, but find the containers are so cheap that I don't worry about it. Steph

I use wooden boxes that have fixed wood dividers in them with a sliding perspex front for ease of access. I have lots of these for all forms of rocks and minerals. I make sure we have 8 of each rock in each cubicle (class set). These have lasted for 8 years with no damage yet and the ease of just picking up a box, instead of smaller containers, makes it worth the initial effort of getting the boxes made. Industrial technology is very good doing this sort of thing for student projects.

WE use the hard plastic fishing boxes with seperated sections. Have one sample in each area and an index card. These have stayed together so far for 3 years and it is easy to see what is missing before the class leaves as they are clear. Also we have a few craft divided boxes that work just fine for the smaller samples.
KIM

Hi, we use the plastic storage boxes that can be obtained from hardware stores to store bolts ect. We use green for Minerals and for Rocks we use yellow (sand colour) for sedimentary, red (hot rocks) for ingneous and blue(pressure) for metamorphic rocks. They all stack on top of each other and look neat and tidy with computer labels on the front. Can be obtained from plastic or storage shops and are cheaper in bulk.

We store our rock samples in wine cask boxes & have done for years.
Just cut out the side containing the tap & that then becomes the top.I am replacing some of them now after 17 yrs, so they've lasted well.
Some of the rock specimens are fairly big & these boxes hold a lot.
Cheers