Sciencemadness Discussion Board

An Introduction and UK home science

strangelove - 15-11-2011 at 10:39

Well, this seemed as good a time as ever to introduce myself. My name's Alex, I'm 14, and I live in Scotland. Science, and chemistry in particular, has been a passion of mine for a long time. I suppose I've always thought about performing science at home but lurking and browsing on this forum has made it seem like a worthwhile and fulfilling pursuit. Practical chemistry classes in UK secondary schools are thin on the ground, so being able to actually do the experiments would be invaluable.

As far as I can tell, Britain is a fairly good country for home science as far as glassware and chemical aquisition goes. Major drug precursors such as ephedrine and methylamine need a license for possession from the Home Office, but less crucial ones such as KMnO4 only require manufacturers and exporters to register. Reagents such as sulphuric and hydrochloric acid are available at every hardware store as well as chemical supply houses without restriction (at least for now).

As I said, I'm looking to 'get into' home chemistry, so I'll hopefully be purchasing some lab consumables and reagents (and safety equipment, obviously) in the coming months/year. I have an area with good storage, space and ventilation which would suit a home lab just fine.

I know that this forum has always had a problem with 'kewls' , but I'd like to assure you that I am not among them. Mixing and detonating pyro chemicals with no regard for science or safety, but for the LULZ, is everything that home science is not.

That's all from me, I hope to see you around the forum.
Alex

hkparker - 15-11-2011 at 18:11

Welcome!

woelen - 15-11-2011 at 23:57

Good to read that there is a new young science enthusiast on the forums. I hope to see a lot of interesting activity from you and of course, asking questions also is appreciated, especially if you show scientific interest.

Maybe this page is interesting for you (it is about setting up a home lab, geared towards basic inorganic chemistry):

http://woelen.homescience.net/science/chem/misc/homelab.html

strangelove - 16-11-2011 at 09:29

Quote: Originally posted by woelen  
Good to read that there is a new young science enthusiast on the forums. I hope to see a lot of interesting activity from you and of course, asking questions also is appreciated, especially if you show scientific interest.

Maybe this page is interesting for you (it is about setting up a home lab, geared towards basic inorganic chemistry):

http://woelen.homescience.net/science/chem/misc/homelab.html


Thanks woelen, that looks like a really great resource! It can be hard to know where to start when it comes to looking for equipment and chemicals.