Did you blow stuff up when growing up?

[tangent4ronpaul]

Someone was on Washington Journal this morning from the National Academy of Engineering this morn (former dean of MIT also) talking about the dismal state of math and science education in the US today.

He recounted a convention of engineers where the question was thrown out - "did you blow stuff up as a kid?" - every hand in the room went up. The followup question was: have you looked at a chemistry set recently?

America underwent a civil war recently and the geeks and nerds lost. We are now a country that graduates 8,000 engineers and 40,000 lawyers a year. We have become a society that is risk adverse. With other factors, this is killing us as a country. The legal system is broken.

Discuss?

-t

[sailingaway]

Chemistry sets are a joke. They have NOTHING. I found some science sites for my kids.

[specsaregood]

All the freaking time. Burned up plenty of stuff too.

[pcosmar]

Poll needs an option.

Yes, but not by accident.

[Acala]

hehehehehe. Estes model rocket company used to have some anti-homemade rocket propaganda in their catalogs. It called homemade rocket makers "basement bombers". That became the nickname for my two friends and I when we were about 12 years old. We kept all our fingers and eyesight, although I had another friend who mangled his hand badly with a conduit bomb. All of us ended up in science professions at some point - an engineer, a chemist, and an astrophysicist. The guy that mangled his hand became an engineer.

Chemistry sets now don't deserve the name. How very sad.

edit: By the way, we didn't blow up other people's property or endanger life (other than our own). We just liked to hear (and feel) the explosion.

[Anti Federalist]

Shit, I still blow stuff up.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3tV_Jh-FqA&feature=related

And yes, chemistry sets suck these days.

But, you can still go "real world" if you want to spend the money.

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Science-Supplies-CHE-395-Professional/dp/B00198BHPE/ref=sr_1_3?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1296167495&sr=1-3

[tangent4ronpaul]

Chemistry sets are a joke. They have NOTHING. I found some science sites for my kids.

do you home school?

I thought this sale was over, but looks like it has a day or three to go: (75% off)

http://www.makershed.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=135&Click=74648&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Maker+Shed+Jan+19+2011&utm_content=Maker+Shed+Jan+19+2011+Version+B+CID_5 3ddb0134383cc21723c7cde8928bff5&utm_source=Email+Campaign&utm_term=Science+Products

Thinking it ends on the 30th.

Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments: All Lab, No Lecture (DIY Science) [Paperback]
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0596514921/ref=asc_df_05965149211408901/?tag=nextagus0054815-20&creative=395021&creativeASIN=0596514921&linkCode=asn

Mountain Home Biological
http://www.pelletlab.com/

http://www.elementalscientific.net/ (Slow shipper, HUGE selection! - decent prices)

American Science and Surplus www.sciplus.com

Forest City Surplus - www.fcsurplus.com/science/labtools.htm

Home Training Tools - www.hometrainingtools.com/

Fantastic resource for locating places that sell chemicals:
http://www.hyperdeath.co.uk/ Click on "Readily Available Chemicals"

http://www.unitednuclear.com/supplies.htm

This next one sells the closest thing to a 1960's era chem set still available:
http://www.thamesandkosmos.com/products/chem/chem2.html
about:
"One of the few companies still selling chemistry sets worthy of the name is a German-American venture called Thames & Kosmos, run by former Adobe software engineer Ted McGuire. The company’s top-of-the-line kit, the C3000, is equipped with a full complement of test tubes, beakers, pipettes, litmus paper, and more than two dozen useful compounds. But even the C3000, which retails for $200, comes with a shopping list of chemicals that must be purchased elsewhere to perform certain experiments. “A lot of retailers are scared to carry a real chemistry set now because of liability concerns,” McGuire explains. “The stuff under your kitchen sink is far more dangerous than the things in our kits, but put the word chemistry on something and people become terrified.”

http://www.nitrogenorder.org/news.shtml
see in particular this page:
http://www.nitrogenorder.org/lessons/household.shtml

This organization serves as a virtual co-op to allow it's members to buy small quantities of chemicals and glassware. Their store is currently being rebuilt and may be down through maybe AUgust 2006.
http://www.sas.org/

http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/

http://www.sciencemadness.org/

http://www.makezine.com/

http://dorkbot.org/

http://www.scifair.org/

most of those should work...

-t

[Anti Federalist]

ATTENTION DHS AGENTS:

All replies in this thread are "tongue in cheek" jokes.

The making or use of any destructive device is violation of 26 U.S.C. § 5845.

All of us here are well neutered, placid Americans, always in full compliance with every applicable code, rule, law and regulation.

[tangent4ronpaul]

All of us here are well neutered, placid Americans, always in full compliance with every applicable code, rule, law and regulation.

ahhh - sheeeet! - what happened to that little tag on my mattress??? Guess I should get out the milk and cookies for the SWAT team.... :roll eyes:

-t

[Pericles]

Chemistry sets are a joke. They have NOTHING. I found some science sites for my kids.
The whole purpose of chemistry sets is to do science experiments and that means to see what happens when you mix ..... BOOM!

[Pericles]

ATTENTION DHS AGENTS:

All replies in this thread are "tongue in cheek" jokes.

The making or use of any destructive device is violation of 26 U.S.C. § 5845.

All of us here are well neutered, placid Americans, always in full compliance with every applicable code, rule, law and regulation.

I'll have your destructive device right here as soon as I get my approved Form 4 back from the BATFE ...........

[pcosmar]

ATTENTION DHS AGENTS:
Kiss my rosy red one !




All of us here are well neutered, placid Americans, always in full compliance with every applicable code, rule, law and regulation.

I was building my own 4th of July fireworks as a child.
In JROTC I was taught Guerrilla Tactics and Improvised Munitions as part of government sponsored education.
I continued that education in the US Army.

Don't ever give me a reason to use what I haven't forgotten.

[oyarde]

:d
kiss my rosy red one !




I was building my own 4th of july fireworks as a child.
In jrotc i was taught guerrilla tactics and improvised munitions as part of government sponsored education.
I continued that education in the us army.

Don't ever give me a reason to use what i haven't forgotten.:d:d

[tangent4ronpaul]

hehehehehe. Estes model rocket company used to have some anti-homemade rocket propaganda in their catalogs. It called homemade rocket makers "basement bombers". That became the nickname for my two friends and I when we were about 12 years old.

This is a really good book:

Amateur Rocket Motor Construction: A Complete Guide To The Construction Of Homemade Solid Fuel Rocket Motors
http://www.amazon.com/Amateur-Rocket-Motor-Construction-Complete/dp/093038704X

-t

[Bruno]

I refuse to answer the question on the grounds that my actions as a child might be used against me as an adult. :)

[Danke]

Still do. No, I didn't.

[sailingaway]

do you home school?

I thought this sale was over, but looks like it has a day or three to go:

-t

Man, those are great! I don't home school, but I have curious kids and what they teach at school (except for currents) bores them with science, which I think is a crime.

I started to book mark your sites but I ended up just making your post into a document and saving it. Thanks!

[sailingaway]

I'll have your destructive device right here as soon as I get my approved Form 4 back from the BATFE ...........

My kids learned to build rockets in a rocket camp. The teacher was very insistent they not make them a certain way, because, she stressed to the entire group, the rocket would blow up.

Ill considered wording.

[oyarde]

Do not think I will vote in this poll ......

[Reason]

duh?

[tangent4ronpaul]

Man, those are great! I don't home school, but I have curious kids and what they teach at school (except for currents) bores them with science, which I think is a crime.

I started to book mark your sites but I ended up just making your post into a document and saving it. Thanks!

That sale should end Midnight on the 31th. You don't see that kind of discount often - it turns $300 orders into a $65 order.

Here's Robert Thompson giving a talk on the demise of the chemistry set:

http://blip.tv/file/1040283

His book is the standard right now and he has a web site to support it:

http://homechemlab.com/

See the things at the bottom - first he has a newsletter that I don't think he's writing any more of, but it has a good series of making chemicals from chemicals via cross conversion.

Next is a page on equipment and supplies - some places have put together kits of labware and chemicals to go along with the book. One was Makers Shed, and their lack of listing and his starting his own supply co may be a liquidation sale on Makers Shed's part - hence the really good prices. It also lists sources I didn't.

Lastly, he has a message forum to go along with the book.

Another good book is the Golden Guide to Chemistry Experiments - hopelessly out of print and going for about $200 used, it can be found on BitTorrent for free.

Do compare prices - they vary a lot!

hope that helps,

-t

[BuddyRey]

No. I'm 26 and have never even fired a gun. I'd like to, but I'm probably too old to learn now.

[sailingaway]

No. I'm 26 and have never even fired a gun. I'd like to, but I'm probably too old to learn now.

Uh, no.

go to any target range where they rent guns.

[oyarde]

No. I'm 26 and have never even fired a gun. I'd like to, but I'm probably too old to learn now.

You age is not any handicap . I do not know where you are at . I am in the midwest mostly now . You are more than welcome to stop by my place some Sunday afternoon in the summer and I will teach you how to shoot you in the yard .

[libertybrewcity]

i spent LOTS of time with fireworks and setting things on fire. We experimented with tennis balls and gasoline all the time. I think we gave up after a while and started smoking...haha

[amy31416]

You're better off going to a drug store and a hardware store than buying any pre-made chemistry set...they suck.

Even the setups they're using in college laboratories are practically childproof these days.

[aravoth]

ATTENTION DHS AGENTS:

All replies in this thread are "tongue in cheek" jokes.

The making or use of any destructive device is violation of 26 U.S.C. § 5845.

All of us here are well neutered, placid Americans, always in full compliance with every applicable code, rule, law and regulation.

I disagree with your last sentence, just last week I experimented with black powder, cannon fuse, and a .50 cal shell casing.

It was glorious.

[lynnf]

did we? back in the day before the country wussed out, we used cherry bombs, 2-inchers and 4-inchers to blow up whatever we could find on the 4th of July.

[Pericles]

Uh, no.

go to any target range where they rent guns.
Preferby automatic weapons or machine guns, so you can experience your first wargasm.

[Freedom 4 all]

Someone was on Washington Journal this morning from the National Academy of Engineering this morn (former dean of MIT also) talking about the dismal state of math and science education in the US today.

He recounted a convention of engineers where the question was thrown out - "did you blow stuff up as a kid?" - every hand in the room went up. The followup question was: have you looked at a chemistry set recently?

America underwent a civil war recently and the geeks and nerds lost. We are now a country that graduates 8,000 engineers and 40,000 lawyers a year. We have become a society that is risk adverse. With other factors, this is killing us as a country. The legal system is broken.

Discuss?

-t

8000 useful vs 40000 useless.

[Vessol]

I used to blow little plastic army men and indians up every fourth of july. I'd get all sorts of different stuff to see their effects on them. I also did the same with hot wheels.

The best was this one flare that was extremely hot and would melt one down easily. I remember setting a whole platoon of plastic army men up around 4 bricks of 1000 firecrackers, fun stuff.

[Philhelm]

I didn't learn how to blow things up until the government taught me.

[Pauls' Revere]

Chemistry sets are a joke. They have NOTHING. I found some science sites for my kids.

Your local grocer has the same stuff as todays sets.

I once found a older set made of metal in a thrift store. It must have been post WW2 or early 50's by the smiling freckle faced kid on the front. Anyway, I opened it a read the contents on the test tubes. Gunpowder & Uranium were listed and some was still the tube. I took it to the University I was attending and the chem depart confirmed it. I turned it over but wow what a eye opener to imagine the blast (pun inserted) kids must have had.

Oh and yes, I blew shit up. Many times...

[Pauls' Revere]

i didn't learn how to blow things up until the government taught me.

lol

[puppetmaster]

binary baby!!