The moment (or moments) that made you realize you had a passion for chemistry

Hey everyone


I have read threads about what jobs people have on this forum but I wanted to start one that was solely about the passion for chemistry or science in general. What is it that got to your soul that made it light a fire for you to pursue chemistry either as a hobby and/or a job?

I feel like it is also a way of life.

And what is it that keeps you interested?

What do you wish would change in the field?
Or in the general view people as a whole have on it? (Besides breaking bad and the mainstream media outlets talking about terrorist attacks or meth lab raids I don't think chemistry is brought to people's attention that often. )
It has somewhat gained a notoriety as we all know as almost something forbidden to actually learn just for the sake of learning itself.

I want to hear any and all things that relate chemistry and your passion with it.


I love hearing people talk about what THEY love.

What is your story?

In all honesty? I read The Anarchist's Cookbook circa 1998, and concluded that understanding chemistry could allow one to wield enormous power. Around that time, various apocalyptic scenarios were commonly discussed, and being able to fashion weapons out of society's refuse seemed to be at the top of the list of useful skills. Oh, and I also quite enjoyed McGyver.

I also filled a balloon with hydrogen, attached a slow-burning fuse to it, and let it go at night. A nice little flash could be seen. The next one had some oxygen added from my dad's torch, and that one was more impressive.

Hmm. This is a great question!

I believe my interest started way, way back to probably before second grade, from a bicarbonate volcano project I had done, but I probably had shown interest way before that as well.

However, I do remember when my interest was piqued when I discovered YouTube in 2008 when I was 9

Oddly, I would constantly look up and watch videos describing poisonous plants and mushrooms, among other things, such as the color changing coin trick. It wouldn't be until a little later at maybe the age of 11 or so, that I would start to mix random household chemicals, despite what I had read online about certain mixtures being potentially dangerous. Now that I realize it, I think I started doing that because I honestly did not believe that mixing so and so together would 'magically' hurt me. I guess you can say my first unaided reaction was NaOCl + NH3 --> NH2Cl + NaOH, in a jar. In retrospect, not a good idea. I would open it, only to have my eyes water severely and have my nose burning and running, and I would go on to show this discovery to my friends. Although, this was before I had even realized exactly what elements consisted such reagents.

I would eventually cease interest for a while, because I had kid stuff to do, like video games and whatnot.

When I was 13, I began to pick up on the videos I used to watch. I truly sat and wondered one day, "how is it possible that a gas is released when mixing vinegar and baking soda?" So, I began to research. I spent my free time just watching and reading; TheHomeScientist, MrHomeScientist, Nile Red; these were my first channels(among other smaller ones that I forgot).

I was truly fascinated by the world around me; I was blessed with a new perspective in life. How can such atoms and molecules and reactions happen to be right under our noses, literally?

And, finally, my first 'educated' reaction was that of:

\[3CuSO_4 + 4Al + 6H2O \overset{NaCl}{\rightarrow}Al_2(SO_4)_3 + 2Al(OH)_3 + 3Cu + 3H_2\]



And I guess it continued from there


[Edited on 5/27/2019 by Velzee]

[Edited on 5/27/2019 by Velzee]

As a kid I already had interest in all kinds of technology and science. I read books about space, planets and other celestial objects when I was 10 years old. Lateron my interests became wider. I also read books about electronics (e.g. basics of a transistor, resistor, capacitor, inductor) and I purchased some electronics components when I was 14 years old or so. I used pocket money and my parents sometimes gave a little extra money.

At school, when I was 15, we had our first chemistry lesson. The first chemistry lesson was just a bunch of demonstrations in order to spike the kids' interest. The demos were:
- ignition of a mix of KClO3 and sulphur
- dissolving a piece of copper in concentrated HNO3 in a long flask with flat bottom
- making H2 and O2 in small amounts and mixing them to make a loud bang

These demos made a deep impression on me and I was converted to the goddess of chemistry at once

At that point I though WOW and I want to read more about that. I went to the library the same week and got books about chemistry experiments which could be done at home. We are talking about 1981 or so, so no internet and other online sources. I went to drugstores in my town and with pocket money I bought NaOH, KNO3, HCl (30%), NH3 (25%), KClO3, CuSO4.5H2O, KMnO4, K2Cr2O7, S, C, I2, KI, KBr, Na2S2O3.5H2O. All of them in small quantities of 100 grams or so, available at prices of a few guilders per 100 grams, except the I2 and KI, which were very expensive and I only could afford 10 grams or so of each. I mixed KNO3 with S and C, mixed it with sugar, and also did experiments with graphite rods from old batteries. My glassware was empty glass jars from peanut butter, mayonaise and that kind of things and empty miniature bottles with 50 ml of booze.
Those were great times. In the period from 1981 to 1984 (when I was 15 to 18 years old) I did lots of experiments, all around the house with chemicals purchased locally. When I was a little older (17 years or so), drugstores were willing to sell 96% H2SO4 and 58% HNO3. They knew me over the years and knew how I proceeded with my experiments. One of these shop owners actually liked me very much and was really helpful and he even offered me to order chemicals for purchase price which normally were not present in a drugstore (e.g. K4Fe(CN)6, Fe2(SO4)3, FeSO4.7H2O). I was amazed by the deep purple vapor of I2, the color changes of mixing K4Fe(CN)6 with iron(III) salts, the deep yellow color of gaseous ClO2, made from KClO3 and 30% HCl or the fact that metals can form gaseous compounds, like the red vapor of CrO2Cl2, which I made from K2Cr2O7, NaCl and a few drops of H2SO4. The reaction product of KMnO4 with H2SO4 also impressed me very much, I read about it in a really obscure book from a library, I don't know its title anymore (remember, this is the 1980's I am talking about).

When I was 18 years old, I started my studies on a university (electrical engineering) and I had to move out of town. During those years, I had no room for my chemicals and abandoned the hobby of chemistry. I stored all chemicals in my parents' house, tightly sealed. There has been a long time of non-activity.

In the year 2001 or so (more than 15 years later), when I was settled in my own house, had a decent job and a family with two kids, some event sparked my interest again. A colleague told me about his young years about making nitroglycerine and how this totally failed, producing big brown clouds of NO2 in his parents' house. His stories raised my interest again at once, and within a few days I picked up all chemicals from my parents' house and also all electronics stuff. All of the chemicals were still OK, except the H2O2 and the concentrated bleach.
I picked up the hobby again, but the world had changed a lot. Many chemicals could not be purchased locally anymore, basic chemicals were diluted (e.g. NH3 went from 25% to 5%, bleach went from 12.5% to 4%, HCl went from 30% to 10%) and acids like HNO3 and H2SO4 were gone. At that time, however, we had the rise of the internet and soon I discovered that many things became available online. I also discovered forums, like sciencemadness, and discovered a whole new dimension on the hobby of home chemistry. Since then I have acquired many different chemicals, also very rare ones, which would be totally out of reach for me in the 1980's, such as lanthanide compounds, rhenium, ruthenium, cesium compounds, and much more. Every first-row transition metal now came into my reach, in the 1980's it was limited to iron, chromium, manganese, copper and zinc. Vanadium or titanium compounds were simply unheard of.

Unfortunately I also see the other side. Locally, hardly any chemicals are available anymore, and the way I started as a 14-year old kid with all the fun stuff available in local shops for a little pocket money is long behind us. We now have a very paradoxical situation. More knowledge and also more chemicals are available, also to amateurs, than ever before (even when all the recent regulations are taken into account), but only online through eBay and specialized shops. Locally, where a 14-year old boy can get his stuff, hardly anything is available anymore and this may be killing for the hobby of home chemistry in the long run. I picked up the running of my hobby from online sources, because I already had experienced the wonders of home science in my young years and wanted to have that feeling of wonder again. But for someone who does not have that experience as a young boy or girl it most likely is not interesting to start home science as a hobby when money and other resources are available for starting such a hobby. I think that for nearly everyone this hobby starts when he/she is young.

I know too many people now, who work in science, but who do not have a real heart for science. For them, science is a commercial endeavor, the least boring way for them to make money. But "the least boring one" is something totally different from "the most amazing one"



[Edited on 27-5-19 by woelen]

In school, I had a very bad teacher for chemistry and was rather fond of biology.
I was also very fond of psychoactive drugs, so I started with (ethno)botany and mycology as hobby rather early.
After I read a certain book(psychedelic shamanism) describing an easy acid-base extraction, I understand why and what is done there and my fascination grew quite quickly after I did this process(the extraction of dimethyltryptamine), I started to understand what all can be done with chemistry and began almost feverish to read as much scientific literature together with plain cookery stuff.

This was the moment I realised, this is a fascination that will never stop, that will always grow further.
I don't know when I realised it was a passion for me, I was to busy with the hobby.
Soon, I started to begin job training in a chemistry lab, a job concentrated on the practical aspects.
Somewhere during that I realised it is not just a hobby, not just work, but a lifestyle
That is around 15 years ago now and it really has never stopped, I only got more and more passionate

Very well written story, Woelen!

My earliest chemistry related memory goes back when I was around 5. I remember a day which was off from kindergarten and I was at home. (Or maybe on sick-leave, who knows?)

I was sitting at my small desk and playing with something, maybe a toy car, but was bored. Then -apparently out of blue- I asked my mother who was doing things in the kitchen, that "Could you please give me a bit of chemicals?"

My mom was surprised and told me that chemicals are dangerous and such, but I know she was a bit proud of me too. This was probably the first sign that I have scientific interest.

My story has much in common with Woelen's! At around 9 or 10 I asked my dad to buy me a few electronic components when he visited the state's capital one day. I still have that BFY90 transistor he brought home. (It is an rf transistor and I built low-freq circuits mostly.)

Then I found some chemistry books of my elders and other relatives and I became fascinated by the short descriptions of various experiments. Unfortunately I had no real chemicals except what one could find around the house. I remember when I wanted to duplicate the S + Zn powder ignition experiment one day, with a "minor" twist: I substituted table salt with the Zn powder! It did not worked of course, although I worked hard to scrape off sulfur from my dad's supply of wine making sulfur strips!

Then I met with the local pharmacist who was positively surprised by my chemistry knowledge and he gave me every chemical I desired - and his shop carried! He also ordered some exotic stuff exclusively for me and sold it to me on purchase price, sometimes even for free! (Exotic: the central pharmacy warehouse carried it but was not in official use as a drug, eg. ethyl-acetate, methanol, etc.) I still have some stuff from these long gone days.

At 14 I made my first "official" laboratory: a corner with a desk and a few shelves in my father's shed.
At 15 I asked "Santa" to bring me some glassware (beakers, Erlenmeyers, test tubes, basic stuff) and some chemicals: KSCN, Sodium-acetate-trihidrate, and a 250 ml bottle of conc. nitric acid! Yes, in those days Santa could go in a shop and buy these things without much (any) fuss...
Then in the summer vacation I borrowed my girlfriend's chemistry book (she was a year older than me) and became fascinated by organic chemistry! I finished her book in a few days and was very eager to go to school again in September to learn from that book. In that year we got a new chemistry teacher who also appreciated my knowledge (vacation learning payed off) and granted me access to the school's chemistry laboratory - with his supervision. And to his personal chemistry books, mostly university-level things. :-)

The rest is history.

I'm curious whether my kids will develop any interest in this field. I do remember that one day my older kid (4 years old at that time) told me: "Dad, let's make some poison!" When he was 6 the kids had to make drawings about what they expect from Santa. Guess what my boy drew? A box of neongreen something. When the nurse asked him what it was he simply told her the obvious: "Plutonium, of course!"

[Edited on 30-5-2019 by Pumukli]

At a very early age I remember being fascinated by the science scenes in cartoons and TV shows.








[Edited on 10-11-2019 by Pyro_cat]

Quote: Originally posted by vibbzlab

I learnt in lower classes that red ants have formic acid in them.I started my Chemistry career by killing those red ants and testing the acid in them by using a blue litmus paper. I wasn't cruel, was I? xD . To be honest it actually worked and turned the litmus red lol.

I must admit that for the life of me I can not recall the moment or event that nudged me towards an interest in chemistry. That interest has always been there, even way before I could have known about the concept of chemistry in any possible way.

The first encounter that I can remember very faintly was at about the age of maybe three or four when I discovered a cupboard that my father kept the insecticides in. I found it to be the most magical and interesting place that possibly could exist....and I explored it thoroughly. Which of course did not provoke a positive reaction in my parents. Rather an excessive panic attack and horror that culminated in a huge argument and physical punishment. And to my great dismay the magical cupboard was relocated into a high place that I could not reach....and when I finally figured out how to reach it, I found that it was locked! Talk about adding injury to insult

I remember my dad acquired a set of empty chemical bottles and other interesting vessels for me to play with in an attempt to keep me from trying to raid the insecticide "warehouse", but really without the contents the bottles were for some reason very boring.

And so it progressed, the "itch" never left and in time I learned the proper way to scratch it. But way before that my parents gave up on trying to scare me away from my unhealthy hobby and found it is easier to just let me be.

Quote: Originally posted by Pyro_cat

At a very early age I remember being fascinated by the science scenes in cartoons and TV shows.

Well my passion for chemistry started when I was really young, I was in the first grade, so I was probably around 6 years old.
I already learned how to read and write when I was in kindergarten, so I was a bit bored at school and wanted to learn something new.
Chemistry in movies and television(especially documentaries) was always very interesting to me, so I convinced my parents, that I really need a small chemistry kit and that's how it all started.
After that first chemistry kit in first class I got a whole lot of new chemistry kits for Christmas, birthday, etc.
At the age of around 8 I started to search for experiments and later also small inorganic syntheses and buying the reagents on my own from my pocket money. By the way the first synthesis was making KCN from the Potassium ferrocyanide, I can still remember this, because I was quite afraid
However over the years both chemicals and knowledge grew, now I'm mostly into organic synthesis and also doing chemistry for a living. Currently I'm a lab technician, but to be honest the job doesn't really challenge me and I will start to go to university next year.

What really disturbs me is, how chemophobic not only many people are, but especially how chemophobic the country I'm living in is. Now I have no problems getting any chemicals, but under normal circumstances it is a really big trouble getting most chemicals here or at least getting them without appearing on some kind of watchlist. A friend of mine even got a police raid at his house because he ordered beakers from a shop that also sold some chemicals to some terrorists by accident, so all customers were "visited" by police. On one hand the many years where I did not have free access to most chemicals told me a lot how to improvise or think "outside the box". But on the other hand I think, that we would have a lot more people, that are passionate about chemistry and maybe even contribute something useful to society, if the hobby would be more easily accessible here

[Edited on 12-11-2019 by Tellurium]

Quote: Originally posted by markx

I remember my dad acquired a set of empty chemical bottles and other interesting vessels for me to play with in an attempt to keep me from trying to raid the insecticide "warehouse", but really without the contents the bottles were for some reason very boring. And so it progressed, the "itch" never left and in time I learned the proper way to scratch it. But way before that my parents gave up on trying to scare me away from my unhealthy hobby and found it is easier to just let me be.