Australia's Science Forum

Hey all,

I am OVER matches....

Dose any one know were you could buy something like a flint??? to light bunsens with???

thanks
vicky

Hi,
we have been down this path many times.
There are flints and flames to light bunsens with, even ones made by the Redhead matchbox people.
Always, always the kids keep them in the flames until they melt or are destroyed, they are not cheap and to get one for each lab group has not worked.
We always come back to matches.
~Robyn

And the Pizo electric spark will ignite LPG but will not light natural gas that we have

I tried gas lighters for awhile, bigger than a cigarette lighter and have a trigger in the handle to ignite a small flame at the end of it. I knew the gas would run out soon, but the idea was to use them as a spark that would light the gas. That worked really well until some "bright spark" of a student worked out that if you held them in a certain way and kept sparking it, they gave you a mild shock. I'm not sure exactly how they did this but the teacher brought them all back and said that was the end of that idea!
One teacher then wanted sets of ten boxes with 3 matches in each. That was impossible to keep up with (and really boring job!)
I now send out a small tray that fits 10 empty boxes neatly in one half and put about 20 matches loose in the other half of the tray. Kids then have to get a box and one or two matches.
Some teachers hand out the empty boxes and then walk around with the loose matches and give them out one at a time.
Maybe one day someone will invent bunsens with an ignition system on them!

Give the teacher a box of matches and let him/her light the bunsens ?

After having kids waste matches, putting them down the sink, flicking them across the room etc, I have become the match nazi!! I have a ziplock bag with all the matches in it and a heap of matchboxes with stickers on one side saying 'Do not throw out empty box' and on the otehr side 'return box to front bench'. I put 1 match in each box, and try to keep on top of it (I have way more boxes than I need, so I don't have to do it every time matches get sent out). I have a 'teacher' box which has extras in it and the kids have to ask for extra matches if something goes wrong with their first one. Some teachers still insist on giving the kids more matches and so they'll fill the boxes themselves with however many matches, and no matter how many go in the box, they all come back empty!

Like Rosalie, I have become a control freak over matches. I do it a little differently from her. I actually put about 8 matches in each box. They are not usually all gone, funnily enough. Maybe the students think that is all there is and look after them better. But, keeping empty boxes and using them this way is the way to go!
Maree

in our classes we count out three boxes that must be moved around the room, just before the end of the lesson the boxes must be handed back, it doesnt matter that they have all been used and we count them back in. This works for us and the students inform us when they have ignited.
Laurena

This works for us and the students inform us when they have ignited.

Themselves or the bunsens???

At the last school I was at I bought those candle-lighters, with the flexi-necks and metal ends, which avoids unnecessary melting or other forms of vandalism. I figured if the teachers have to go around handing out matches, they might as well go around lighting bunsens themselves. The teachers retain custody of the exciting lighter. They are also refillable. Matches only came out for first years to get their "Bunsen Licences". You'd be amazed how many kids don't know how to light a match, because of the reduction in smoking, and gas stoves with self-ignitions.

In my current school I could count on one hand the number of annoying match-related incidents. The kids just light their bunsens and rarely play with the matches. Mind you, I AM pretty scary. However, I also hand out boxes with about 8 matches in each. Seems to be some kind of psychological happy medium. Kids see enough matches to get their bunsen lit, but not enough to play with, without getting sprung.

Did the kids spontaneously ignite??? I'm now visualising them telling you they've ignited.... AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH probably does it!! Sorry Laurena... just got this funny image in the ole noggin now!!!

Like a few others, I have been amazed by the number of year 7s who have never lit a match before & our worst "match offenders" are the Y7 & 8s.

I have 2 containers of matches. One is for normal match boxes thrown in & used for Y10-12 & teachers. The other is match boxes with 5 matches each for the Y7-9s. We don't seem to have any troubles. Lucky I guess!

Sorry, wrong words. "We ask them to inform us as to when they have ignited their bunsen burner." No funny visuals, please. We are very safe with our practicals.

Like Rosalie, I have become a control freak over matches. I do it a little differently from her. I actually put about 8 matches in each box.

That's generous! I put 4 matches in each box. Usually they come back with a couple still in there. I don't know why, but when they got full boxes it was just too tempting somehow & I'd find burnt matches all over the lab!

I guess it's a bit of the 'treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen' principle........or should that be 'give 'em less, no more mess'?

We put only 8-10 matches in each box also.
It's funny how they are careful with them when they can see there is a limited supply.
We even get some matches back.
Now.......how to keep the spent matches out of the sink and lab kits......
We have galvanised sand buckets in each lab but they are not always used to good effect.

Don't Start me on the galvo buckets of sand in each lab,
They are there to put on fire yet everyone uses them as garbare bins
The teachers are the worst as they are absolutely full of chalk ends:banghead:

We moved all our buckets of Sand into the prep rooms. Just left the extinguisher & Fire blanket in the class rooms. Much better.

We even had to move the fire blankets into the prep rooms just inside the door. It was just too tempting for the students who more than once pulled the blankets out by the tabs and threw them into the bins. More than once an unsuspecting cleaner then threw our blankets into the rubbish skip and bye bye blankets! Since we moved them I've no longer had to replace missing blankets.

I have a teacher who is insisting on gas lighters instead of matches. I believe they may become a hazard in kids hands. Does anyone out there have any information on the safety issues with these lighters. Or give me any further feedback regarding their use in the science lab.

Our Chem teacher has always used Lighters . This is a guy that doesn't trust a kid for two seconds .

He says kids are stupid and they only use a lighter for a few seconds before it gets too hot to play with . Self regulating safety . He is amazed at how kids use lighters upside down .

Regardless , I'll give him two lighters and that will last him over a year . He sends one down one side of the class and the other down the other side .
He says its easier to keep track of two lighters than 8 boxes of matches .

Also means no matches go down the plug holes .

Matches. The yr 7's have no idea how to use them but I reckon lighters become flame throwers too easily. They will misuse them, (matches), worst I had was when they chucked them in the bin and caught the paper on fire.

mtg wrote: ↑15 Aug 2022, 16:05 I reckon lighters become flame throwers too easily.

When I say we use lighters , its just your standard Bic disposable lighters . Not BBQ gas lighters or those refillable crack pipe lighters