jowrose

"In World War I Potassium Chlorate was the most common type of plastic explosive used, often filling grenades and other munitions." Ok I was wrong about which war, but it was still used. Isn't it very unstable, especially when moisture is introduced?

Immediately after making the batch of agar and pouring it into the petri dishes, I placed the dishes in a freezer after sealing them in a ziploc back. I'm pretty sure that they are reasonably pure. The inner layer of the "colony" is very thin, not fuzzy at all, but the middle and outer rings are filamentous. Ok, I'm going to try purifying my system and see if I can avoid growing more fungi. Thanks for the help.

Potassium chlorate? Isn't that the explosive used in WWII hand grenades and stuff like that? Also a main ingredient of plastic explosives? Where on earth'd you get that stuff?

Are bacteria colonies more homogenous in structure (lacking the "rings" that I have gotten)? How can you so easily determine the difference?

Ok, I'm not very knowedgeable in the field of Biology (I've taken high school biology, and planning on taking a college level course next year), but I find it very interesting. I made some agar from gelatin and a few other ingredients and have been growing bacteria colonies. I started this one on December 22, and this picture shows its growth by December 29. Does anyone have any ideas to possible bacteria species? The colony is roughly 4.4 cm tall, and about 2.5 cm wide (i'm talking about the colony on the side, not in the middle).

Earlier in this thread someone made the argument that if Africans weren't too dumb to wear a condom, the AIDs crisis wouldn't be at the level it is today. Now, did it ever cross anyone's mind that perhaps it is the RESOURCES they are lacking, rather than INTELLIGENCE? We are talking about Africa, which has many of the world's most impoverished places. Can every African walk to the nearest Walgreens and pick up a pack of Trojan Man condoms for a few bucks? I'm not saying that there aren't differences between races, but that is just one terrible argument.

I just bought some. I also bought some glycerine while I was at it. The NaOH will be useful for other things, besides just making glycerine. Now that I have glycerine, how do I make Nitroglycerine? just kidding

Where can you get sodium hydroxide? It's in drain cleaners, but that would be a huge pain to separate. Would I have to order it from a chem supply company?

Where do you get glycerine? I know it's in some soaps and some other household products, but where is a pure enough source for the KMnO4 reaction?

Yes, woelen, the solution was a very pale green, nothing like the previous solutions made from steel wool. I think the main reason for this was that I used FeCl3 that I had obtained from steel nails (rather than steel wool) and had filtered out the solid carbon. These must be a whole heck of a lot more pure than the steel wool.

Ok, I think I got a relatively pure sample of iron, and I've been using it to make FeCl3. I took some of my old FeCl3 (that's probably not what it is, it's so impure, but I'm calling it that anyways) and added little bunches of aluminum to it, keeping a magnet next to the test tube to attract all the iron particles to the side (thanks for that idea, YT, it worked). When all the FeCl3 was reacted, I dumped out the liquid and washed the iron particles several times. I suppose some of this could have been Nickel, but for optimism's sake I'm going to say it was pure iron. I took a small sample of this iron and mixed it with some HCl in a test tube. This time I got a very clear solution, almost exactly the same color as Woelen shows on his website (with just a tint of green that is very hard to distinguish). I let this be, and after a few hours the top cm of the solution had oxidized to FeCl3 (a yellow-orange color).

Yeah the common strong acids are fine for me. I won't come into contact with the more exotic samples for a long time... But thanks for the info anyways, it's still nice to know. I doubt my chemistry teacher knows about all the extra ones. I know this is off-subject, but where can one get nitric acid? Do you have to order it from a chemical-supply store, or is there an easier way?

but would even glycerine and KMnO4 be hot enough to light thermite? Perhaps you could use it to light magnesium which would, in turn, ignite the thermite. gasoline is generally not something to play around with. Forget the generally part. gasoline is not something to play around with.

are you using it to light the thermite? I highly doubt it would be hot enough for that.

Yeah, cosine, you're probably right. I was thinking along the lines that counselors have power to punish students, but then again, so do teachers. So i guess administration would be deans, assistant principals, head principal, and everything above. Yeah, it is harder to make a decision without knowing the exact phrasing of the statement as well as the school's rationale for punishment. I'll dig around for some info.

I see potential for cheap tatoos! only one color, but still. All the charm of a prison-esque tatoo, with no pain or permanence!

I would consider school administrative staff to be anyone above the level of teacher. Deans, counselors, Assistant principals, principals, superintendents, etc...

Ok, thanks for the help.

I tried the copper electrolysis with the salt bridge, and now I know what you mean by BLUE copper hydroxide... It's better than the mess of brown sludge I would always produce.

Ah ok. Thanks. I searched the muriatic acid bottle and couldn't determine whether it was w/v or w/w. Should I just assume it's w/w then?

What constitutes a strong or weak acid? I know there are lists, but are there general rules? Or is it just through testing that scientists have determined which acids are strong and which acids are weak?

Yeah, I've used Fe203 in ceramics as a stain; I was sure there was some other bonding agent to help it permanently stick to the clay in the kiln, and now I realize that it was just a mixture of iron oxide and water. I still don't understand how it permanently fuses with the clay though.

It's in geneva/west chicago (Illinois). Actually there are three of them, and the one I use is the geneva location. The other two are (I think) in chicago and somewhere in Wisconsin. Yeah, there are these bags of "bargain lab glass." lots of test tubes or pipettes for $4. You can buy anything, and I mean anything, science-related there. It's not a very big store size-wise, but it has tons and tons of stuff. Radiation detectors, plastic-sealed dead dissection frogs, firefighter helmets, you name it.

Wow, that is really interesting. So you have to be very very close to equilibrium to get a pH of around 7? Even a few "drops" off and you'll get either a very acidic or basic indication.

I love how chemistry NEVER produces the results I think it will... I have much to learn, methinks. Or maybe i'm stupid