Sorry, this is quite late, but I'm not entirely sure since I don't remember if glass was tested when I competed. I think you use the same solutions used for plastic density testing and rely on the rule that if the fluid and the glass have the same index of refraction, the glass will disappear in the solution. Other than that I'm not sure the national supervisor would even make you do a Snell's Law math problem, unless her tests have changed dramatically since my time.potatosoup9000 wrote:Does anyone know how Snell's law/index of refraction calculations were done at nationals? The seniors from our team never did them. Were they done normally, like shinning a laser through a flat sample, or do you have to do extra math for the spherical shape of the sample?
Thanks!
There are portable bunsen burners (you can get them on amazon apparently), and then another thing you could do would be alcohol burners (sometimes used as a substitute if the lab has no gas outlets but it's not ideal since its flame color is too close to that of sodium and it is not even close to generating as much heat as a real bunsen burner). If you plan to use it at competition, it's something I'm not entirely sure is the best idea - while it could technically count as something that could fit under the description in Rule 2.a.viii, not every ES will have the same interpretation of what stuff would be allowed under that rule (i.e. an ES may interpret it as something that's not on the list of the allowed equipment because it's not explicitly written itself despite the "etc." at the end). For example, candles technically could count under that rule, and we brought one and it got confiscated by the forensics staff at State (and my state is run by the national supervisor for the event). Plus, there *could be* hazards involved with transporting a portable burner because you'd need either MeOH, IPA, or butane (depending on what you use) to operate it, which are all flammable (I say "*could be*" since I'm not sure what your school administration's policies are on those kinds of matters).sofossils wrote:Hello all! I am looking for a "portable" replacement to a Bunsen burner for flame tests. Does anyone have any suggestions for something that I could buy for my team? We do not have access to a chemistry lab on a regular basis, and using matches/candles did not work well! Any advice is welcome.
