If you could pick up additional subjects, what would they be? (3 Viewers)

[foram]

Wow, that sounds cool. And I thought *my* school's experiments were fun...

Yup. Pencils are have graphite which isn't a very good conductor of electricity, so he puts an electric current through it, and the resistance turns the electricity into heat and it smokes and burns, and because the graphite expands when heated, the pencil cracks open, and you can see the graphite glowing really hot while the wood around it burns.

It just burst into flame and the class was like SOO COOL!!

 

[lyounamu]

It just burst into flame and the class was like SOO COOL!!

Sounds like year 4 mobs who go "SOO COOL!!" at some obvious results.

 

[foram]

Yes, but fire is always cool. Don't you just love burning stuff, and making it explode? I think theres a pyromanic inside everybody.

 

[lyounamu]

Yes, but fire is always cool. Don't you just love burning stuff, and making it explode? I think theres a pyromanic inside everybody.

Nah. Fire basically means a lot of "safety" preparation and cleaning up at the end where I basically do all the work while my partners are absorbed into the experiment.

 

[foram]

Nah. Fire basically means a lot of "safety" preparation and cleaning up at the end where I basically do all the work while my partners are absorbed into the experiment.

I only had two safety preparation. Putting on safety glasses, and putting the pencil on a heat mat. Cleaning up was just putting the safety glasses, heat mats and transformers back, which took 2 minutes. And we just threw the pencil away.

 

[selablad]

Yes, but fire is always cool. Don't you just love burning stuff, and making it explode? I think theres a pyromanic inside everybody.

Burning stuff we do a lot, especially in biology (my teacher has an obsession with finding out how much energy is in stuff, or something).

But exploding stuff? Making stuff suddenly burst into flame? Not so much. If we ever do anything of the sort, it'd be a teacher demo. No fun for us kids.

Our science teacher last year showed us that experiment, I can't remember what you do but you drop one of those Group 1/2 metals (I think) into water I think and it makes pretty coloured flames. (There's something about chemistry that produces really pretty colours.) Not quite as cool as blowing up pencils though!

 

[foram]

Our science teacher last year showed us that experiment, I can't remember what you do but you drop one of those Group 1/2 metals (I think) into water I think and it makes pretty coloured flames. (There's something about chemistry that produces really pretty colours.) Not quite as cool as blowing up pencils though!

you mean lithium in water, or magnesium in hot steam? I really want to see magnesium in hot steam!! I need to tell my teacher to do that in yr 12.

 

[selablad]

Yeah lithium in water rings a bell. I think she did sodium and some other ones too, but I can't remember. I've never heard of magnesium in hot steam, but from my understanding of chemistry I can guess that that would be awesome. What actually happens?

 

[foram]

The teachers arn't allowed to have sodium at school anymore because it was too dangerous.

You need to put a bit of water at the bottom of a test tube, stick a coil of magnesium near the top, heat the water and magnesium, and the steam from the water passes over the magnesium and it combusts and if you put a flame outside the exit of the test tube, the hydrogen may ignite i think. The testtube also breaks because of the heat.

I think the Magnesium forms a hydroxide...

 

[Aerath]

I don't think too many teachers and schools are keen on purposely breaking test tubes just for the sake of receiving: "OMG, so coooool" comments from students.

 

[foram]

Lol, i remember in yr 7, there was a science teacher who took out lot of test tubes and beakers and other glass stuff, and he was talking about how if anybody broke them, he was going to be very angry, except he was moving his arms around as he said that, and he accidently knocked some of the stuff and it set of a domino effect and like half the glassware fell off the table and broke on the floor. Hypocritical teacher. lol

 

[selablad]

But really, if you did it as a demo (I'd imagine you'd have to!) you'd only have to do it once or twice a year (depending on how many classes there are per grade and how many you could get together at once). That'd only be one test tube, and people break test tubes accidentally all the time, it wouldn't be a problem

And besides, that would just be awesome, and would...um...*tries to think of reason to play with fire* ...generate student interest in studying science? If you did a whole bunch of fire/explosions experiments, and timed them well so as to coincide with either subject choosing (year 10) or QTAC/"NSWTAC" (lol, sorry, don't know what it's called) preference choosing, you'd have more science people in Australia, and isn't that a good thing? Well worth a few test tubes!

 

[selablad]

Lol, i remember in yr 7, there was a science teacher who took out lot of test tubes and beakers and other glass stuff, and he was talking about how if anybody broke them, he was going to be very angry, except he was moving his arms around as he said that, and he accidently knocked some of the stuff and it set of a domino effect and like half the glassware fell off the table and broke on the floor. Hypocritical teacher. lol

Hahaha

 

[Aerath]

Well, I dunno about your schools, but my school is pretty stingy. Teachers chastise students for breaking equipment. They wouldn't smash test tubes (on purpose).

 

[selablad]

Well, I dunno about your schools, but my school is pretty stingy. Teachers chastise students for breaking equipment. They wouldn't smash test tubes (on purpose).

What if the students provided them? To be sacrificed in the name of science?

 

[Aerath]

What if the students provided them? To be sacrificed in the name of science?

Dunno too many places where you can just buy a test tube.

 

[aimzlouise]

If i couldpick up additional subjects they would be...

extension Maths.
Music
german or Spanish or Italian beginners

 

[-tony-]

if i could pick up anything it would be modern history and food tech

 

[bettina44]

i realli wanted to do ipt but it clashed with my art and physics line,i now realise i should of chose ipt,physics is soo boring.i also would of like to of done
textiles
french
society and culture
industrial technoology
but the scaling and the major projects turned me off

 

[Aplus]

Well, I dunno about your schools, but my school is pretty stingy. Teachers chastise students for breaking equipment. They wouldn't smash test tubes (on purpose).

In the name of science. Aim: To investigate the strength of test tubes