Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Starting To Put It Together

By now I have picked up a lot of items. I have built a 5 ft. x 2ft. work bench. (I will show you a diagram of the bench so you can put one together too) Underneath it I have placed an old night stand someone threw out. With other wood I built a book case and put shelves above the bench (these are made from bi-fold doors). I found 4 broken metal shelving units and made them into 2 full units.

All this was found while walking around my neighbourhood. I also found a couple of blenders. I want to turn one into a centrifuge. I will show pictures of this as I put it together.

Other things to collect: Jars and bottles, plastic, toys, milk and juice cartons (used for storage filing boxes), cardboard boxes, jugs, light bulbs(the old kind, these can used to make flasks and round bottom dishes), coat hangers, toothpicks, plastic tubing, soda straws, plastic squeeze bottles (dish washing soap), clothespins, plasticine, paper clips, foam meat trays, scotch tape, masking tape, duct tape, glass (from picture frames) and batteries (source of carbon rods and zinc and manganese dioxide). A lot of this I was able to collect from family and friends, some I picked up at the dollar store, which by the way has many items you can use in the lab.

Chemicals you can find at the Dollar Store, grocery store, drug store or hardware stores are:
Aluminum (foil), Ammonia (ammonium hydroxide), Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate),Borax (sodium borate), Bleach (Sodium hypochlorite), Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate), Glycerin (glycerol), Iron filings, Moth balls (naphthalene), Hydrogen peroxide, Plaster of Paris (calcium sulfate), Table salt (sodium chloride), Sugar (sucrose), Starch, Vinegar (acetic acid), citric acid, ascorbic acid, TSP (tri-sodium phosphate) and plain chemical batteries (carbon rods and zinc and manganese dioxide).

I stored many of my chemicals in spice jars, they are a good size and cheap to come by. Well now I have some lab equipment, chemicals, work space, books and odds and ends. Time to do some experiments.

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