Lab
See the idea. Put it to the test.
956 practicals from Kindergarten to Year 12, in 9 subjects. A practical gives the idea, what you need, the steps, what you should see and a safety card. A teacher-led practical gives the idea and its hazards; its method is for tutors on the learning platform.
Review
Reviewed before publication (owner’s confirmation, 24 September 2026). That covers every practical here, and a practical’s page lists the sources its author read.
A safety card on every page
The risk, who supervises and the hazards. The 38 teacher-led practicals show their idea and hazards here; their materials, steps and sources, and any result, control or note that states a number or an amount, are for tutors and administrators on the learning platform.
School laboratory, not for home
207 practicals are medium or high risk. Each says so on its page: In a school laboratory, with a teacher supervising, under the school's risk assessment. Not for home.
Curriculum references
Each practical lists the NSW syllabus outcomes and Australian Curriculum v9 codes it supports. They are references, not a verified or complete curriculum alignment.
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137 practicals
Chemistry · page 3 of 3
Comparing properties along the alcohol homologous series: boiling point, evaporative cooling, miscibility and flame
Members of a homologous series differ by one CH2 unit, so properties that depend on dispersion forces change steadily along the series while the functional group's chemistry stays the same.
Practical, model not builtMedium riskComparing the enthalpy of combustion of methanol, ethanol, propan-1-ol and butan-1-ol by calorimetry
Each CH2 unit added to an alcohol adds a nearly constant amount of combustion energy per mole, and the energy per gram rises along the series as the oxygen fraction falls.
Practical, model not builtMedium riskDehydration of ethanol to ethene over a hot catalyst, with the gas tested by bromine water (teacher demonstration)
Heating ethanol vapour over a solid catalyst removes water and forms an alkene, and the collected gas decolourises bromine water where ethanol vapour does not.
Teacher-led practicalPracticalHigh riskFermentation of glucose by yeast: tracking carbon dioxide loss on a balance and testing for ethanol
Yeast enzymes convert glucose to ethanol and carbon dioxide; the mass lost from an open flask over days is the carbon dioxide, and the stoichiometry sets the maximum yield.
Practical, model not builtLow riskGravimetric analysis of the sulfate content of a lawn fertiliser or water sample as barium sulfate
Precipitating an ion completely as an insoluble compound of known formula, then drying and weighing it, gives the ion's mass in the original sample.
Practical, model not builtMedium riskIdentifying anions in solution: the eight syllabus anions by acid, silver, barium and iron(III) tests
Anions are identified by which cation precipitates them, the colour of the precipitate and whether it dissolves in acid or ammonia, with gas tests for carbonate and hydroxide.
PracticalMedium riskIdentifying the eight cations of the 2017 syllabus by flame and precipitation tests
Each cation gives a fixed pattern of flame colour, precipitate colour and solubility in excess reagent, so a short sequence of tests identifies which of the eight is present.
PracticalMedium riskLe Chatelier's principle with iron(III) thiocyanate: adding and removing ions, and heating
Adding a reactant deepens the colour and removing one fades it, showing that the position of equilibrium moves to counter each change in concentration.
PracticalMedium riskLe Chatelier's principle with the cobalt(II) chloride and chloride equilibrium: concentration and temperature
When an equilibrium is disturbed by adding a reactant or by heating, the position shifts to oppose the change; the direction of the colour change reveals the sign of the enthalpy change.
Teacher-led practicalPracticalHigh riskMaking esters from alcohols and carboxylic acids with a sulfuric acid catalyst and identifying them by smell
A carboxylic acid and an alcohol condense with loss of water to form an ester; the catalyst speeds the equilibrium and the product is recognised by its characteristic odour and insolubility.
PracticalMedium riskMaking soap from castor oil and sodium hydroxide, and comparing soap and a synthetic detergent in hard water
Alkaline hydrolysis of a triglyceride gives glycerol and the sodium salts of fatty acids, whose ionic head and hydrocarbon tail let them lift grease, while calcium ions in hard water precipitate soap but not detergent.
PracticalMedium riskMeasuring the enthalpy of neutralisation of a strong acid with a strong base, and comparing a weak acid
Neutralisation releases the same heat per mole of water formed for any strong acid with any strong base, because the reaction in every case is hydrogen ion with hydroxide ion.
Practical, model not builtMedium riskMeasuring the equilibrium constant of the iron(III) thiocyanate reaction by colourimetry
The concentration of the coloured complex at equilibrium, read from a calibration curve, fixes the equilibrium constant for a set of mixtures whatever their starting ratio.
Practical, model not builtMedium riskMeasuring the pH of strong and weak acids and bases across three concentrations with a calibrated pH probe
pH depends on both the concentration and the degree of dissociation: a strong acid's pH falls by one unit per tenfold concentration while a weak acid's falls by only half a unit.
Practical, model not builtLow riskModelling dynamic equilibrium by transferring water between two cylinders with tubes of different diameter
When a forward and a reverse process run at the same time, the amounts stop changing once the two rates are equal, not when the amounts are equal, and the final ratio is set by the ratio of the rate constants.
Practical, model not builtLow riskNitrogen dioxide and dinitrogen tetroxide in sealed tubes: the effect of temperature and pressure on a gas equilibrium
A brown gas in equilibrium with its colourless dimer pales when cooled and darkens when warmed, and compression shifts it towards the dimer, so the compressed gas ends less dark than its higher concentration alone would make it: temperature and pressure both shift a gas-phase equilibrium.
Teacher-led practicalPractical, model not builtHigh riskOne molar hydrochloric acid against one molar ethanoic acid: conductivity, pH and rate with magnesium and marble
Two acids of the same concentration differ in hydrogen ion concentration if one is only partly dissociated, and the difference shows in conductivity, pH and reaction rate but not in the amount of base needed to neutralise them.
PracticalMedium riskOxidising primary, secondary and tertiary alcohols with an acidified oxidant and identifying the products
A primary alcohol oxidises to an aldehyde and then a carboxylic acid, a secondary alcohol to a ketone, and a tertiary alcohol not at all, so the oxidant's colour change and the product's tests sort the three classes.
Teacher-led practicalPracticalHigh riskPrecipitation titration of chloride in seawater with silver nitrate and a chromate indicator (Mohr method)
Silver ions precipitate chloride quantitatively, and the first excess of silver forms red-brown silver chromate, marking the end point so the chloride concentration can be found by titration.
Practical, model not builtMedium riskPreparing a red cabbage indicator and mapping its colours across the pH scale
An indicator is a weak acid whose acid and base forms differ in colour, so its colour reports the pH and changes reversibly as the pH is moved back and forth.
PracticalMedium riskPreparing an ethanoic acid and ethanoate buffer and testing how it resists added acid and base
A mixture of a weak acid and its conjugate base holds its pH when small amounts of acid or base are added, because the added ions are absorbed by the equilibrium between the two forms.
Practical, model not builtMedium riskReversible or not: copper(II) sulfate hydration, iron(III) thiocyanate, burning magnesium and burning steel wool
Some changes can be driven back to the starting substances by reversing the conditions and some cannot; the difference decides whether a system can reach equilibrium.
PracticalMedium riskSolubility rules from mixing ionic solutions, and predicting precipitates from Ksp
Whether two ionic solutions give a precipitate follows a small set of solubility patterns, and quantitatively from comparing the ion product with the solubility product.
Practical, model not builtMedium riskSubstitution against addition: bromine water with cyclohexane in sunlight and in the dark
An alkene takes up bromine at once and in the dark, because the double bond adds bromine directly, while an alkane takes up bromine only in light, because that reaction is a substitution which cannot begin until a photon splits a bromine molecule into two atoms. Light is therefore the variable that separates the two mechanisms.
Practical, model not builtMedium riskSynthesising aspirin: percentage yield and purity by melting point
An ester made in the school laboratory can be weighed against the mass its equation predicts, and its purity read from the temperature and the width of its melting range, so yield and purity become measured quantities with stated uncertainties rather than claims.
Teacher-led practicalPractical, model not builtHigh riskTesting for carbon-carbon double bonds with bromine water and acidified permanganate on a microscale
An alkene adds bromine across its double bond and decolourises bromine water at once, while an alkane needs light and time to substitute; the difference identifies unsaturation.
PracticalMedium riskTesting organic unknowns for carbon-carbon double bonds, hydroxyl groups and carboxylic acids
Three quick bench tests sort small organic molecules by functional group: bromine water for alkenes, an acidified oxidant for alcohols, and hydrogen carbonate for carboxylic acids.
PracticalMedium riskThe nylon rope trick (condensation polymerisation) with a model of addition and condensation polymer chains
Monomers join into long chains either by adding across double bonds or by condensing with loss of a small molecule; the repeat unit fixes the chain's composition and the properties follow from the chain's structure.
Teacher-led practicalPractical, model not builtHigh riskTitrating sodium hydroxide of unknown concentration against a standard acid
The volume of a standard solution needed to reach the end point, with the mole ratio of the equation, fixes the unknown concentration to four significant figures.
Practical, model not builtLow riskTitration curves with a pH probe and a conductivity probe: strong and weak acids against a strong base
Logging pH and conductivity as base is added reveals the shape of the curve, the equivalence point, the buffer region of a weak acid and the pH at which an indicator must change.
Practical, model not builtLow riskPanning for gold: separating a dense mineral from sand by density
Alluvial gold is recovered because it is far denser than quartz sand (gold up to about twenty times the density of water, quartz sand 2.7, Earthlearningidea), so washing sorts the grains, the principle behind panning, jigs and sluices.
PracticalLow riskAcids and bases: indicator colour against pH readings in a dilution series
Indicator colour is a qualitative observation and a pH meter reading is a quantitative one; a tenfold dilution raises the pH of a strong acid by one unit but of a weak acid by only about half a unit.
Practical, model not builtLow riskCollecting primary data for the law of conservation of mass
Mass is conserved in every reaction; an apparent gain or loss means matter crossed the boundary of the system, and even a sealed balloon can mislead a balance through buoyancy.
Practical, model not builtLow riskFive white solids: identifying chemicals from observations and clues
Colour changes, fizzing and warming are observations; the name of each powder is an inference, and some pairs cannot be told apart with the tests available.
PracticalMedium riskReactions of calcium carbonate: limewater, carbon dioxide and cave formation
Carbon dioxide first precipitates calcium carbonate from limewater and then redissolves it as calcium hydrogencarbonate; heating drives the gas off and the solid returns, the chemistry that dissolves caves and builds stalactites.
PracticalMedium riskThe candle in a closed container: separating observation from inference
What is seen (the flame goes out, the water rises) is an observation; “the oxygen was used up” is an inference, and a designed test shows the rise is caused mainly by heating and cooling of the trapped gas.
PracticalMedium riskThe ‘life’ of an alkaline cell under different loads
A battery’s life is not one number: an alkaline cell delivers less charge at higher current, so an inference drawn from one test holds only for the load and schedule tested.
Practical, model not builtLow riskPressure and volume of a gas: Boyle’s law and a hidden systematic error
For a fixed amount of gas at constant temperature, pressure times volume stays constant; air hidden in the connecting tube is a systematic error that bends the data until it is counted.
Practical, model not builtLow riskTemperature and gas volume: Charles’s law and an estimate of absolute zero
At constant pressure a gas’s volume is proportional to its absolute temperature, so extrapolating measured volumes to zero estimates absolute zero, and the equipment limits how good that estimate is.
Practical, model not builtMedium riskTemperature and reaction rate: stopwatch against light sensor
The rate of the thiosulfate–acid reaction rises steeply with temperature, and the technology used to detect the end point, the eye with a stopwatch or a light sensor, decides how reliable the result is.
PracticalMedium riskTesting a label claim: how much acid does an antacid tablet neutralise?
An efficacy claim on a medicine label can be tested quantitatively: a back-titration measures how much acid one tablet neutralises and compares it with the stated active ingredient.
Practical, model not builtMedium risk
For tutors and administrators
The materials and steps of every teacher-led practical are on the learning platform, with the safety card first. Sign in with a tutor or administrator account to read them.