Lichen Lab Procedures

Day 1

Safety Gear on

Obtain a chunk of Lung Lichen (Post-It note-sized) pre-soaked for one day
Label 4 test tubes with masking tape and Sharpie with your period and lab group # and the chemical name: 1 is distilled H2O, other 3 are your choice out of 4:   SrCl2 , AlCl3 , CaCl2 , or KCl
Use hole punch to cut 20 complete discs from lichen
Using forceps, put 5 discs in each test tube
Clean up: Put all equipment back where you found it, clean it if necessary, wash hands
Teacher adds 2ml of methylene blue dye to each tube

Day 2 procedures

Safety gear on

Strain lichen discs over sink
Rinse discs with d-H20 to remove all blue dye
Rinse test tubes with d-H20 to remove blue dye
Place 5 discs back into each test tube
Add 9ml of metal cations to 3 test tubes
Add 9ml d-H20 to the 4th tube (control)
Wait 5-10 minutes
Gently shake tubes to mix dye
Compare tube colors to light box colors
Record data

Clean up:  Strain out discs, all liquid down the drain