Shelf Life of Chemicals

Using of hazardous chemicals in a middle school environment is a concern not just for the purchase but for the use of them as well. More importantly is the safe disposal of them. This can... See More

Using of hazardous chemicals in a middle school environment is a concern not just for the purchase but for the use of them as well. More importantly is the safe disposal of them. This can be extremely costly for the school district. Using less dangerous chemicals that are more environmentally easy to dispose of is a wiser choice. Using microchemistry techniques or green chemistry procedures eliminates some of these worries. Knowing and respecting the ‘shelf-life’ of a chemical is very important and should be followed. Information about this can be found on the MSDS sheets which are free and online. Managing chemicals in a lab situation should be the responsibility of all science teachers whether they use them in a school or not. Awareness of the problems is a must.