Sciencemadness Discussion Board

The Luckiest Science Dept. in the World

DFliyerz - 24-4-2015 at 06:36

I am thoroughly convinced that my high school's science department is the luckiest in the world.
I live in Redmond, Washington, which is where Nintendo of America is headquartered.
As it turns out, Nintendo was using a lab to test things sent from overseas for lead and particulate matter for a while, decided to outsource, and was left with lots and lots of lab equipment. They chose to send this lab equipment to my high school's science department.
Now one of the chemistry rooms is full of hundreds of boxes worth of glassware, equipment, and media storage containers. I'm going to be helping to unpack some after school, but some was already unpacked (FOUR Soxhlet extractors, many volumetric flasks, many RBFs, and lots and lots of equipment.)

j_sum1 - 24-4-2015 at 14:47

I'm envious. I put in a submission for $1000 of glassware for my school lab - rbfs and condenser kits. Don't know if it will be approved.

gdflp - 24-4-2015 at 15:49

Quote: Originally posted by j_sum1  
I'm envious. I put in a submission for $1000 of glassware for my school lab - rbfs and condenser kits. Don't know if it will be approved.

It really is ridiculous where the budget money goes sometimes. The high school in my district just approved a quarter million dollar project of refinishing the reasonably new(~5 year old) running track which was just fine. I've seen their chemistry labs though, there are barely enough beakers to give one to each student in a class. I was chatting with the chem teacher recently(she's a family friend) and she said that they get denied whenever they try to purchase anything not absolutely necessary over $150.

Mailinmypocket - 24-4-2015 at 15:55

But gdflp! Think of the sports! The SPORTS For heavens sakes! Sports are the key to new technologies, medicines, innovations etc. :)

That's pretty cool about the Nintendo lab though, now if only high schools would teach science at a level that requires such equipment we would be talking!

gdflp - 24-4-2015 at 16:01

Just leave now:mad: You don't deserve to be here if you think sports are more important than chemistry;)

Texium - 24-4-2015 at 16:08

Quote: Originally posted by Mailinmypocket  
But gdflp! Think of the sports! The SPORTS For heavens sakes! Sports are the key to new technologies, medicines, innovations etc. :)

That's pretty cool about the Nintendo lab though, now if only high schools would teach science at a level that requires such equipment we would be talking!
Indeed, unfortunately all of that equipment will likely sit around at the school doing nothing for eternity...
At my school, there is a lot of stuff sort of like that that isn't used at all and just sits around gathering dust. It pains me to see it. Same goes for some reagents. Luckily for me, my teacher lets me take a few little things from the supply room occasionally, such as an element sample of indium (not sure what they'd ever use that for). She also has antimony, tellurium, and a big jar of mercury, but she won't let me take any of those because she's concerned about the toxicity, which I find to be understandable with the Hg, but less so with the Sb and Te. :/ They'll likely never be used for anything.

Edit: My school is also very sports-oriented, and most of the more interesting stuff in the store room looks like it's really old. I'm not sure where it all came from. My teacher doesn't know either. She also has a good deal of trouble getting the school to accept her budget plans, while the football team alone receives more funding than the teams of some colleges.

[Edited on 4-25-2015 by zts16]

j_sum1 - 24-4-2015 at 16:12

Quote: Originally posted by Mailinmypocket  
now if only high schools would teach science at a level that requires such equipment we would be talking!

Well, that's the goal. Actually my school is pretty good with money. We have had strong growth and expansion for a number of years. We doubked our lab space this year and literally millions has been spent around the school recently on a wide range of things.
I had a chance to get new glassware a while back but stalled because I was not sure what we needed and what would be justified from the curriculum. Now having had my classes using the distillation kits we already have and which have hardly seen the light of day for years, I am aware of their limitations and can demonstrate a need for replacement. It should be a no-brainer especially since the science dept has run well under budget for a while. However, there are other big requests in the pipeline and we will have to see how things pan out.

DFliyerz - 24-4-2015 at 16:47

Quote: Originally posted by Mailinmypocket  
But gdflp! Think of the sports! The SPORTS For heavens sakes! Sports are the key to new technologies, medicines, innovations etc. :)

That's pretty cool about the Nintendo lab though, now if only high schools would teach science at a level that requires such equipment we would be talking!


Yeah, it's actually pretty sad. My chemistry teacher didn't even know what a Soxhlet extractor is!

j_sum1 - 24-4-2015 at 17:30

Again. I am attempting to rectify this sad state of affairs in my school.