1 Editorial
2 News & comment
New cloots!, same fare!, Equipment lists, Historical budget provision, SSERC Website, HMI sciences report, Summer schools, Enlist! Your country needs you!
3 Electrical accident
An analysis of a recent incident where a teacher received an electrical shock from a piece of equipment. We look at causes and possible remedies.
4 Prosecution
Details of a successful prosecution of a school by the HSE for an incident in a school technology workshop.
4 3M OHPs emitting asbestos
A report on one model of OHP that should have been recalled for modification in 1984! IT seems not all were.
4 Unilab product recall
A recall of Unilab mains powered products between August 1999 and October 2000
5 Design and Technology code of practice
The British Standard for design and technology in schools has been revised.
5 Essential science safety references
A new edition of the ASE’s Topics in Safety.
6 DiVA spectro photometer
The computer-based instrument from Nicholl Education has applications across the sciences.
7 Laser radiation sensor
This sensor is based on a planar photodiode whose surface area is sufficiently large to accommodate all the radiation within a laser beam.
7 Polarisation experiments
Because the radiation from a laser diode is plane polarised with the polarisation vector being in stable alignment, these devices are excellent sources for polarisation experiments.
8 Photoelectric effect kits
The photoelectric effect should be introduced by reviewing the experimental evidence, where possible from classroom experiments. Inferences which can thereafter be drawn lead into the quantisation of radiation and photon concepts. A test report on the available kits is presented here.
10 Quantitative determination of reducing sugars with Benedict’s solution
The principle of the method is that of running the sugar solution of unknown concentration from a burette into a known quantity of boiling Benedict’s solution until the copper(II) (blue colour) is reduced to colourless copper(I) by the sugar.
1 Editorial
2 News
One day’industrial’ courses, Biotech consortium launch, SSERC Website, Summer schools, Science Centres, SSERC AGM
3 Safety
3M OHPs and asbestos, New microbiology code of practice, CASE Materials
4 Survey on ICT usage in Secondary Science
This article is based, with permission, on a presentation prepared by John Sharkey, Science Adviser, Western Isles Islands Council, on behalf of the Scottish Science Advisory Group.
8 Gloves
The HSE has recently published a leaflet ‘Selecting protective gloves for work with chemicals’.
9 Conducting polymers
Organic polymers with semi-conducting properties are described together with methods suitable for laboratory scale preparations of some examples.
11 Air-free small scale reduction
An alternative method, not requiring a Bunsen valve, is suggested to provide air-free atmospheres for the reduction of transition metal salts.
12 Galileo’s inclined plane experiment
On getting a pattern of odd integer numbers while experimenting with a rolling ball on an inclined plane Galileo realised that the laws of nature are universal. With the help of new technology, this historical experiment is now feasible in a school lab.
14 Two simple aids for microbiology
Designs for a Petri dish carrier and a Universal or McCartriey bottle holder are described.
15 Water rockets: Rokit type
An appraisal of the hazards of this popular rocket indicate that there is a slight risk of an impact injury, but that other risks are negligible.
16 Trade News
Marlec Engineering, Novara plc, NCBE ‘Transformer Protocol’ kit, Zippette dispensers, Barfoed’s reagent, Catalase,
1 Editorial
2 News & comment
Back of envelope stuff (calculations about equipment provision), Multimedia report, Grovels, various (apologies for website issues and double-printing of a graph in the previous bulletin)
3 LED safety
A new report has concluded that ultrabright LEDs do not pose a retinal hazard
3 Agar Agony Aunt
Adjusting the pH of agar growth media
4 Equipment funding survey
A typical physics department gets about seven times less than it needs to spend on equipment finds Stuart Farmer, PT Physics, Robert Gordon’s College, in his survey into the resourcing of Physics departments in Scottish secondary schools.
9 Staining bacterial endospores
Recent concern and resultant news coverage on the zoonosis known as Anthrax (Bacillus anthracis) provide an immediate and serious context for discussion on the occurrence and nature of bacterial endospores. A technique is described for staining the endospores of Bacillus subtilis. The practical work provides both an introduction to, and a backdrop for, discussion on the nature of resistant and long-lived bacterial spores.
10 Hazardous Chemicals Manual – new edition
A new edition of the CD-ROM version of the SSERC publication “Hazardous Chemicals – a manual for science education” is nearing completion. Amendments and additions are described and the additional features of the new version summarised.
11 Pressure Systems
A guide to the regulations on testing of pressure systems.
12 News, tips and No Comment
Dataloggers (DCP Developments, djb microtech), Science Summer Schools, Phosphate/citrate buffer recipe, Lactopropionic orcein,
