Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Stories of extremely chemophobic parents and yours :p

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Cou - 22-10-2013 at 14:05

DIHYDROGEN MONOXIDE? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

blargish - 25-10-2013 at 11:30

My mom is perfectly fine with my performing of dangerous chemical syntheses (as long as I am careful, she says), yet will lose it whenever I eat food that is slightly burnt because, apparently, the carbon will give me cancer :D. She is also paranoid about storing anything lukewarm in plastic containers as she is under the impression that the warmth will allow the "toxins" in the plastic to leach into the food. God love her

Metacelsus - 25-10-2013 at 12:38

Well, phthalates are often used as plasticizers, and they are endocrine disruptors:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phthalate

Your mom is not entirely wrong, just too paranoid.

My parents freaked when they saw the capacitors (330 V 1200 uF:D) I got for my coilgun project.

Cou - 26-10-2013 at 08:56

Quote: Originally posted by blargish  
My mom is perfectly fine with my performing of dangerous chemical syntheses (as long as I am careful, she says), yet will lose it whenever I eat food that is slightly burnt because, apparently, the carbon will give me cancer :D. She is also paranoid about storing anything lukewarm in plastic containers as she is under the impression that the warmth will allow the "toxins" in the plastic to leach into the food. God love her


The burnt part is true, it's not the carbon that gives you cancer, but chemicals that are made from burning cells

Also hot dogs are so unhealthy, it's probably better to drink a few drops of bleach than 10 hot dogs

blargish - 26-10-2013 at 09:31

Quote: Originally posted by Cou  
Quote: Originally posted by blargish  
My mom is perfectly fine with my performing of dangerous chemical syntheses (as long as I am careful, she says), yet will lose it whenever I eat food that is slightly burnt because, apparently, the carbon will give me cancer :D. She is also paranoid about storing anything lukewarm in plastic containers as she is under the impression that the warmth will allow the "toxins" in the plastic to leach into the food. God love her


The burnt part is true, it's not the carbon that gives you cancer, but chemicals that are made from burning cells

Also hot dogs are so unhealthy, it's probably better to drink a few drops of bleach than 10 hot dogs


Woah, I did not know that burning cells yielded carcinogenic products... And bleach does not seem like the most appealing substance to be taking :D; I'll stick with hot dogs

weeksie98 - 26-10-2013 at 10:15

Luckily, my parents aren't chemophobic, and don't have a clue about chemistry (the perfect combination IMO). This is why they don't object to me electrolysing iron and proceeding to use the Fe(III)2O3 for a thermite reaction in my half-term... :D

Metacelsus - 26-10-2013 at 11:33

Pedantic Moment Alert:

You can't electrolyze iron. What you are doing is using the iron as an anode in an electrolytic cell.

Cou - 26-10-2013 at 11:53

Well things have changed since I made this thread. I made bromine in a florence flask and my mom was interested by the orange gas, but the house smelled like burnt chlorine for a while

blargish - 26-10-2013 at 19:59

Quote: Originally posted by Cou  
Well things have changed since I made this thread. I made bromine in a florence flask and my mom was interested by the orange gas, but the house smelled like burnt chlorine for a while


The odour of bromine is not something you quickly forget either... It's pretty gnarly that you had that wafting around the house haha

Finnnicus - 26-10-2013 at 20:10

Cou, can you please explain what 'burnt chlorine' is? Quite sure chlorine is non-flammable in air.

Cou - 26-10-2013 at 21:22

Quote: Originally posted by Finnnicus  
Cou, can you please explain what 'burnt chlorine' is? Quite sure chlorine is non-flammable in air.


I'm just saying, it smells like chlorine if it was burnt

Cou - 26-10-2013 at 21:29

What really bothers me now is, every time I do something, even something completely harmless that is impossible to explode, my mom yells out "POW!!!!" and it doesn't bother me because I thought it exploded, but the joke is so goddamn corny and stupid. I throw an absolute tantrum every time she does that, yelling at her to never make that joke again but she just keeps doing it. Such as, I'm doing something innocent like baking soda in vinegar, she sees what I'm doing and jokingly yells "POW!" as if vinegar could explode

[Edited on 27-10-2013 by Cou]

confused - 26-10-2013 at 21:31

that seems kindof immature of her,throwing a tantrum isn't going to help though

Cou - 26-10-2013 at 21:41

It also annoys me when she calls the stuff I do "experiments" because an experiment is when you are discovering something new, but not if you're just repeating something that has already been done for fun. So making a baking soda and vinegar volcano is not an experiment, but if you wanted to measure how much CO2 is made in different temperatures, that would be an experiment.

Yes I'm a stickler for word usage... I've even complained about how she uses the word "awesome" to mean "cool" and not something that gives you awe, such as a waterfall

elementcollector1 - 26-10-2013 at 21:56

I call my stuff experiments. Why? Because I've usually never done them. When I do repeat something, I call it a 'trial' instead.
Honestly, the best way to get her to stop is to stop reacting. It's the one trick that works on anyone if you do it long enough.

weeksie98 - 26-10-2013 at 23:44

Quote: Originally posted by Cheddite Cheese  
Pedantic Moment Alert:

You can't electrolyze iron. What you are doing is using the iron as an anode in an electrolytic cell.


Well yes, I'm quite aware of that, I just thought it was obvious.

Thank you for bringing it to our attention!

Hexavalent - 27-10-2013 at 10:20

Quote: Originally posted by Cou  
my mom was interested by the orange gas


Just to point out, this would be an orange vapour.
Gases are those which are in the gaseous state at room temperature and pressure (293.15 K, 1.01 x 105 Pa), whereas vapours are those which originate from substances which are liquid at room temperature and pressure.

100PercentChemistry - 26-3-2016 at 12:49

Mom=large chemicals names are bad.

Dihydrogen monoxide=bad because monoxide.
Deoxyribo nucleic acid=bad because acid.
CO2=extremely poisonous.

Luckily my mom works in a lab and isn't fooled by the named:)

szuko03 - 26-3-2016 at 13:25

My parents dont really care and take my word on everything. They are intelligent people but I have been into this type of thing for the better part of 15 years so all of this is nothing new to them, as i am an adult now this should be seen as a natural progression of my love for sciences.

The one thing that makes me laugh is when my mom goes "is it dangerous" and I have to say something like "Its just working with corrosive poisons that give off fumes, you know all that is bad and not to be messed with, ill be safe so i wont die"

However, I have discovered they take my word on anything and if i use chemical names instead of common things i can "get away" with anything chemical. So like if i want to nitrate something I can just use the chemical jargon i would use, "i am just nitrating the 3 alcohol groups on glycerol" or something like that for example. It really makes life a lot easier. My family trusts me so much I could say while working in the kitchen in the open "do you wanna see something cool, look im making N-methyl-1-phenylpropan-2-amine, just the dextro form though, thats better enantiomer" and no one would bat an eye. I never would though its just a funny realization.

XeonTheMGPony - 26-3-2016 at 14:01

Reading the stories here I am insanely lucky

Mother : Must you all ways play with fire?
Me: Yes!
Mother: Ok, just be care full!

I was building He rockets and plasma riffles co2 lasers when I was 14 or so but she all so knew I was super care full and meticulous in my procedures and safety back ups! I like being in one piece!

100PercentChemistry - 26-3-2016 at 16:00

When I do biology experiments my mom is ok since she does that in her lab at work. But with chemistry she is a little more worried. Luckily she isn't chemophobic.

ave369 - 26-3-2016 at 23:15

My mother is not chemophobic, because she is a chemist herself. When I was little and accidentally set sulfur on fire in my room, she did not panic, she gave me a gas mask, told me to put it on, walk inside, extinguish the fire and open the window.

However, it's a long time since I lived with her. Now I live mostly alone, and no one gets in the way of my experiments. Sometimes my grandma lives with me. She is physics-phobic, which means she is afraid of electricity. But she does not appear to be chemophobic, she knows I know what I'm doing.

JJay - 27-3-2016 at 00:40

My parents were not chemists, but I remember doing simple chemistry experiments with with them when I was very young. When I was older, they had the annoying habit of taking my glassware and reagents and using them for purposes other than what I intended, and they didn't much like having sodium in the house.
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