This Unilever Laboratory Experiment describes the preparation of soap from a mixture of cooking oil and dripping. The leaflet was first published in 1964 and so lacks modern safety guidance. The procedure is authentic; it is designed to produce a convincing sample of soap. This means that it could be the basis of...

The method of preparation of a sulphonate paste described in this Unilever Laboratory Experiment is basically the same as that used by Unilever in the large-scale production of soapless detergents at the time of publication in 1964. The required reactants included an alkylbenzene hydrocarbon supplied by the...

This Unilever Laboratory Experiment, published in 1969, gives the procedure for using corrosion (ferroxyl) indicator to demonstrate anodic and cathodic areas on the surface of steel as it corrodes.

In this practical protocol students investigate one way in which bacteria acquire antibiotic resistance through conjugation - horizontal gene transfer from one bacterial strain or species to another.

Plasmid-mediated evolution is fast because whole functional ‘modules’ are lost and gained, rather than the...

This Unilever Laboratory Experiment, published in 1970, describes the analysis of fluorescers from soap and soapless detergent powders. The procedure describes how the fluorescers can be extracted from the product, separated by thin layer chromatography techniques, and made visible by exposing the chromatograms to...

This Nuffield Working with Science unit aimed to excite interest in natural and built environment while encouraging students to take an interest in environmental issues.

Guidance for teachers and technicians appears...

In this Catalyst article an experiment is described in which the formation of clouds can be replicated. The experiment requires nothing more than a plastic bottle, warm water, matches and a small thermometer.

This article...

A Catalyst article describing how to make a spectrometer to analyse light by using a CD to split the light and some other household items for the rest of the equipment.

This article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2011, Volume 21, Issue 4.

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This Nuffield Working with Science unit was designed to enable students to trace the way in which the age structure of the population has changed, to gain experience in interpreting and presenting data, to identify and discuss some of the problems of the elderly, and to...

Whey is a waste product from the cheese industry. In this experiment students upgrade whey, by converting the lactose into glucose and galactose, or by growing the microorganism K.lactis on agar containing whey.

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This Nuffield Working with Science unit encouraged students to consider water pollution problems at national and international level, by coming to understand a local example of pollution through their own investigations.

This Nuffield Working with Science unit is substantially out of date but can suggest approaches for tackling related issues now. The intention was that students should become aware of the real problems of providing sufficient potable water for all our needs by the year...

This Nuffield Working with Science unit was designed to help students to appreciate why the study of weather is important. The topic was planned to cover factors that influence the weather and the reasons why weather forecasters need to collect a large amount of...

This student sheet invites students to consider lignification in detail. Students take thin sections from successive internodes of the shoot and calculate the lignification index of each section. These can then be compared with sections from other parts of the plants to consider where lignin is deposited in other...