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Sources for Laboratory Supplies

You can obtain the equipment and chemicals needed to do the experiments in Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments from many sources, but ordering piecemeal takes time and often costs more. We've arranged with Elemental Scientific, LLC to produce several kits at reasonable prices that contain exactly what you need to complete the experiments in the book.

• Glassware Kit – contains the specialty laboratory glassware needed to complete the experiments in the book.

• Equipment and Supplies Kit – contains the specialty laboratory hardware and supplies required to complete the experiments in the book, with the exception of a balance and a digital voltmeter, which must be ordered separately. Note that this kit also does not include splash goggles, gloves, or protective clothing, all of which must be sized properly and can be obtained from local sources or from on-line laboratory equipment vendors, including Elemental Scientific. It also does not include basic safety equipment such as a fire extinguisher and a first-aid kit, which can be obtained locally.

• Basic Chemical Kit – contains chemicals that are required to complete the basic laboratory sessions in the book, but may be difficult to obtain locally. You will need to supplement the contents of this kit with numerous chemicals purchased locally from the supermarket, drugstore, hardware store, and so on.

• Standard Chemical Kit – contains the same chemicals in the same quantities as the Basic Chemical Kit, plus additional chemicals that are available locally, but that you may prefer to order as a kit rather than buying piecemeal. You will need to supplement the contents of this kit only with chemicals readily available in most households, such as table salt, table sugar, vinegar, and so on.

• Advanced Chemical Kit – contains the additional chemicals needed to complete the advanced laboratory sessions, with the exception of concentrated nitric acid (MSDS), which must be obtained locally or ordered separately on-line. Purchase this kit (in addition to either the Basic Chemical Kit or the Standard Chemical Kit) if you plan to do all of the laboratory sessions in the book.

You can order any or all of these kits directly from Elemental Scientific by phone (920-882-1277) or email (info@elementalscientific.net) at the prices shown, which do not include shipping charges. Elemental Scientific will honor these prices until the end of 2008 even if there are price increases in the interim. Here are the contents of the kits, with the part number and price included in parentheses:

Glassware Kit (# SK 800, $99.00)

Note: In the book, we specify 5 g of iodine crystals and 25 g of potassium iodide. We've eliminated the iodine crystals from this kit because the DEA has made iodine crystals a List I chemical, which means buyers must fill out paperwork and show identification to purchase iodine crystals. As an alternative, we've increased the quantity of potassium iodide from 25g to 50g. You can isolate iodine crystals from potassium iodide using the simple reaction described here. The additional 25g of potassium iodide is sufficient to produce 15g or more of iodine crystals, depending on how carefully you work.

The only other major item needed for the chemistry lab is a decent balance, which will obviously also be useful for physics, biology, and forensics, and other sciences. I consider centigram (0.01 g) resolution the minimum acceptable for serious work, and a milligram (0.001 g) balance is better. Here are some good candidates for a balance:

• Elemental Scientific - very wide selection; student/student(+)/professional grades; g/vg/e prices
• Home Science Tools - moderate selection; student/professional grades; g/vg prices
• Indigo - wide selection; generally student(-) grade; vg/e prices, particularly in bulk
• Science Kit - extremely wide selection; student(+)/professional grades; f/g/vg prices
• United Nuclear - moderate selection; student/student(+) grade; g/vg prices

• Elemental Scientific - very wide selection; generally student grade; g/vg/e prices
• Home Science Tools - moderate selection; generally student grade; g/vg prices
• Indigo - moderate selection; generally student(-)/student grade; g/vg/e prices
• Precision Weighing Balances - huge selection of balances at vg/e prices
• Science Kit - extremely wide selection; student(+)/professional grades; f/g/vg prices
• United Nuclear - moderate selection; generally student grade; g/vg prices

• Elemental Scientific - very wide selection; mostly lab/USP grade, but some reagent grade; vg/e prices
• Home Science Tools - wide selection; mostly lab grade or ungraded, but some reagent grade; f/g/vg prices
• Science Kit - extremely wide selection; mostly lab or reagent grade; f/g/vg prices
• United Nuclear - modest selection (mostly oxidizers/pyrotechnic); most reagent grade; f/g/vg prices
• Readily Available Chemicals (alternative sources for many chemicals)

Copyright ©2008 by Robert Bruce Thompson. All Rights Reserved.