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Author: Subject: chemistry set appreciation
weiming1998
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[*] posted on 15-4-2012 at 05:40


Quote: Originally posted by AJKOER  
Well, if it is drama we need, some of the experiments of the day could be broadcast live. First, we introduce the hapless rodent (and his family?) who, by the chance of the draw, is our subject (gladiator) of the moment. Next into the pit (the fume hood), so we can see if any leaking toxic fumes can render the poor animal unconscious. Then, Dr. Animal House (no relation to that TV guy) can race to the rescue with the anti-dote, but will the rat live? (I can't look)....

Really.


[Edited on 15-4-2012 by AJKOER]


At the start, that might work, but eventually the kids are going to get bored of the mouse in the fumehood. The kids are not actually exploring the vast subject on their own, they have to follow the linear passages of textbook chemistry.

Imagine being in a 5kmX5km forest. You have no problem getting lost because you can teleport back home (imaginary situation just to make a point). You have a whole day of getting to look inside the forest, which is filled very interesting animals, plants and natural features. Would you like a person to guide you through all the (assumed) fun and major points of the forest, without you wandering anywhere, or would you like to explore on your own?

Even if this does manage to capture kids' attention, what about animal rights supporters who condemns of the mouse getting knocked out by the chemical vapours? Also, how much is this show/game going to cost if it is made realistically enough. They are all issues, and because we live in a society that already has their entertainment that the majority is hooked in, some realistic chemistry game/TV show might work to get kids interested in the past, (where entertainment for kids was much rarer and consists of kicking a ball around and playing with toys), it isn't going to work now, simply because there are better (by their reckoning) things to do.
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Alchemist
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[*] posted on 15-4-2012 at 14:15
chemistry set manuals and etc.


Hello all,

If anyone is interested in some chemistry set manuals to go along with this. Check out;

http://keeline.com/chem/

for some Gilbert and Chemcraft chemistry set manuals, and more.

Later, the Alchemist.....

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AndersHoveland
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[*] posted on 15-4-2012 at 15:11


I was playing with concentrated HNO3, magnesium powder, and CaC2 when I was 12 years old. I hope future generations of children are as lucky.
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woelen
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[*] posted on 16-4-2012 at 00:20


I do not believe that all kinds of virtual stuff helps getting people interested. Just collect a set of really nice and surprising experiments and synthesis reactions and present those to the people. If people see such reactions (e.g. described in books, or presented in a video), then they might get interested. That is the reason why I have my website about science. It does get people interested, I sometimes receive emails from people, who ask more about the reactions and want to learn how to do such things themselves.

Reading books with entertaining experiments, presenting remarkable phenomena, that was what hooked me. Some virtual chemistry 'game' does not sound interesting, the information density is too low and people hardly are encouraged to get into the chemistry behind the game.




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malcolmf
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[*] posted on 16-4-2012 at 02:47


Quote: Originally posted by Alchemist  
Hello all,

If anyone is interested in some chemistry set manuals to go along with this. Check out;

http://keeline.com/chem/

for some Gilbert and Chemcraft chemistry set manuals, and more.



Thanks for that. Nice collection there. One book about scientific toys has an interesting quote from an early Gilbert chemistry manual:

Quote:

There was a time when Chemistry was regarded as sorcery. It was supposed that all chemicals were deadly poisons, that every chemical reaction resulted in an explosion. The men who practiced chemistry had to do so in secret, because they were regarded by the people with superstition and dread as related to the devil.... Today, matters are entirely altered. The Chemist is looked on with respect and there is a general desire to know more about chemistry.


:(
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mr.crow
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[*] posted on 16-4-2012 at 09:11


Anyone ever hear of The Wild Goose Company?

When I was a little kid there use to be chemistry kits you could get at the toy store with actual bottles of chemicals. When I went to Disney World in Florida I bought a huge box set from the Epcot store that I proudly displayed on my desk. This was the 1990s!

Oh how far we have fallen

But honestly I don't think a little kid is mature or resourceful enough to do any real experiments. I really liked the pH indicators and sodium polyacrylate but the rest was kind of intimidating




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Alchemist
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[*] posted on 16-4-2012 at 11:42


Hello again,

If anyone has anymore CHEMISTRY set manuals from any year,
Please post them here. Thanks the Alchemist.....
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Eddygp
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[*] posted on 16-4-2012 at 11:47


Ahhh, the past...



there may be bugs in gfind

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paulr1234
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[*] posted on 16-4-2012 at 12:11


Look at this dirty little meth cook - lol

Thanks Polverone - this is great.

I've been patiently rebuilding both the Merit and Thomas Salter sets I had as a kid back in the UK. The more I spend shipping parts over from the UK, the more furious my wife gets.

Screen shot 2012-04-16 at 12.54.15 PM.png - 434kB
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Pyridinium
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[*] posted on 16-4-2012 at 13:45


Quote: Originally posted by paulr1234  
Look at this dirty little meth cook - lol


Yes, clearly that youth can't be doing anything but making drugs, because anyone knows there's no other possible use for chemicals or science. I say we make a press release to the media, so they can do an item-by-item listing of everything in his house. That way everyone will know just how bad, nefarious, and evil he is.

And what is he, some kind of Thomas Edison with that lightbulb hovering over his head, like a good idea? It's probably a ruse.

Quote: Originally posted by mr.crow  

But honestly I don't think a little kid is mature or resourceful enough to do any real experiments.


Depends on what you mean by little. I think the first time I did
S + O2 ------> SO2 was at age seven. But I could have been six. :D



[Edited on 16-4-2012 by Pyridinium]
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White Yeti
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[*] posted on 17-4-2012 at 17:52


Interesting...

I never had a chemistry set, I was always expected to figure things out on my own. My father always told me that it's more fulfilling to make things from stuff around the house instead of using things from the hardware store. There was one catch, things that are common in normal people's homes were not as common in mine (bleach, isopropyl alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, ammonia, drain opener, acetone etcetera). It was aggravating because I could never try anything, because I was missing all the rudimentary chemicals. Now that I look back, if I had all these things at my disposal, I might have gotten injured if not worse.

The payoff was that I got very resourceful, a skill you don't really acquire when everything is served on a silver platter.




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tetrahedron
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[*] posted on 5-10-2012 at 01:09


science, 2012 edition

http://www.ebay.com/itm/320947342191
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Mailinmypocket
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[*] posted on 5-10-2012 at 05:24


Quote: Originally posted by tetrahedron  
science, 2012 edition

http://www.ebay.com/itm/320947342191


Ohhhhhhh! Finally kids can study bathtub redox reactions between green pellets and red pellets. Thank god for the sturdy safety googles too, you certainly don't want to mess with bubble bath without proper protection
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tetrahedron
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[*] posted on 5-10-2012 at 06:47


actually they are
Quote:
not to be used as safety protective goggles


=D
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Mailinmypocket
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[*] posted on 5-10-2012 at 07:23


Quote: Originally posted by tetrahedron  
actually they are
Quote:
not to be used as safety protective goggles


=D


Oh for eff sakes... I need a drink.

Why would you even give safety equipment that isn't actually safety equipment for a kit that doesn't require it? A waste of plastic, which also seems to be one of society's favorite pass-times; another topic entirely...
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elementcollector1
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[*] posted on 5-10-2012 at 10:42


Quote: Originally posted by Mailinmypocket  
Quote: Originally posted by tetrahedron  
actually they are
Quote:
not to be used as safety protective goggles


=D


Oh for eff sakes... I need a drink.

Why would you even give safety equipment that isn't actually safety equipment for a kit that doesn't require it? A waste of plastic, which also seems to be one of society's favorite pass-times; another topic entirely...


In this day and age, science for kids has become some unheard-of thing, because meth and drugs are bad, kids.
(Did we learn nothing from Prohibition? But I suppose that's for another topic as well.)




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Mailinmypocket
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[*] posted on 21-11-2012 at 20:34


Some neat pictures from a time long forgotten: Tracey

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Pyro
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[*] posted on 23-11-2012 at 14:40


lol,
my seeing glasses are more protective than those things, i use them instead of goggles :) may as well pay once for two functions.
but they dare call that science? what's next?






all above information is intellectual property of Pyro. :D
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PirateDocBrown
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[*] posted on 6-5-2017 at 02:51


I'd do anything to have my old childhood chemistry set back. It was a 60's era Skil-craft, with the blue-and-white plastic bottles and steel table top. I set it up in the basement, on an old kitchen table we no longer used, because we had gotten a new one. Later, I added a partial Porter kit from a garage sale, and glassware from when a discount store had a clearance. A local department store carried Perfect chemicals to restock it, and I still could get some chemicals from the pharmacy, too. At some point, I got the 50's era Gilbert Master Manual, used and damaged, and read it through. My father bought me an old high school chemistry text, too, from a clearance table.

I feel bittersweet about such memories, because I know such times cannot happen again.

It definitely prepped me for good performance in Jr High physical science, and I was fortunate to go to a high school with a good science program, there were actually 2 years of chemistry available, and I was allowed to take them simultaneously! The text of the high school Organic was Morrison and Boyd's 3rd edition, and it so happened when I got to University, they used the same text! I still have it, to this day.

I was perhaps 10 when I got that first set, and maybe 13 when we moved to a new house that didn't have room for me to set it back up again. I was 15 when I took HS chemistry. I finished college Ochem when I was 16, and had most of the chem coursework done for my Bachelor's the following year.

It's just not right that kids can't learn like this today.

[Edited on 5/6/17 by PirateDocBrown]

[Edited on 5/6/17 by PirateDocBrown]
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[*] posted on 6-5-2017 at 03:26


My high school was pretty small... there was a full classroom of organic chemistry I students, but there were only four of us in organic chemistry II. My lab partner was this socialist jewish hippie with a great sense of humor... I still talk to him once in a while.

At some point growing up, I remember having some kind of of dollar store crystal growing set that contained a few chemicals but that was probably my only formal set, though I had some books with experiments in them and checked even more out of the library... I never saw real chemicals or glassware outside of a classroom until I bought some of my own in college.




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[*] posted on 6-5-2017 at 10:21


I thought those were links to buy some good sets. Oh well
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