LAB HEATING STUFF

So you don't have a gas jet in the garage? You don't think Margie and Ted are old enough to handle the high temperatures of a Bunsen burner? Our alcohol lamp is the answer. It burns alcohol (available at the hardware store), and is hot enough to boil water, to soften glass tubing for bending, and to generate the chemical reactions generally called for in science projects. The lamp is thick glass, shaped somewhat like a squared-off ink well, 3-1/2" tall w/ cap x 2-1/2" and comes with a screw-on wick holder and a handy little lid/extinguisher, both metal.

Fearful of language barriers, some folks get anxious when they travel internationally. Not this fine red-alcohol glass thermometer. Whether its travels take it to Britannia or Madagascar, Appalachia or Moscow, it's always ready to tell the temperature in the local tongue. Working stateside? No problem: it reads 0° to 230° F, in 2° increments. On a junket across the pond? Again, the Passport Therm shines, reading -20° to 110° C in 1° increments. It's 11-3/4" long, 3/16" dia, and travels in a nothing-special-but-still-handy plastic case.

Getting tired of buying them and trimming them and losing them? Get rid of wicks altogether with this nifty little alcohol burner with a copper capillary tube in place of a cotton wick. Burns 90ml of denatured alcohol and comes with a heat shield (packed inside the reservoir) and a burner cap. Don't forget to remove the little rubber plug - it's there to cover the holes in the copper tube when not in use. And this is lab equipment, so resist the temptation to use it under a chafing dish; initially, it flares up a tad more than is good for Swedish meatballs.

Three-legged steel stands for cooking above burners in the lab. The unit stands 6" tall with a 2–1/4" ID (3–1/4" OD) burner ring. Legs are 1/4" wide chromed steel and angle outward slightly. Burner rings have a grey baked enamel finish. Legs screw into burner rings and have adjusting nuts. Sturdy construction.

Make your own calorimeter with these parts: a 100ml Borosilicate Erlenmeyer flask; a 6-1/4” tall x 4” dia aluminum chimney with a port cut out of it; a 4-1/2” square aluminum plate with a hole to hold the flask; a plastic nut to hold the flask; and a cork and pin to hold the foodstuff you'll be igniting. You supply an alcohol thermometer.