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The Delights of Chemistry
Dan Ormsby writes: "No news on this site, just great photos of chemical phenomena along with instructions on how to perform them yourself. Don't try this at home!"
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Why do we get instructions on how to do it?
http://crummysocks.com
Christ, what kind of childhood would I have had with THAT kind of advice?
insert your own lewd reference here.
Your mind is squeezed by a blast of pain!
This will be /.'ed before you can say H20
http://www.google.com/search?= cache:U69NL26L50Y:www.chem.leeds. ac.uk/delights/+&spell=1
hl=en&safe=off&q
Just how many of these experiments are copyrighted? i don't wanna pay the powers that be for the privilege of a cheap and easy chemical burn.
and I already checked for a google cache. Too bad Hemos didn't give us his own witty commentary, so at least we could make fun of that while waiting for the site to go back online.
xxx straight edge xxx
I remember finding a book of chemistry experiments, and being fascinated with what I could do with just mixing a couple things.
:)
Not simple stuff like "wow, vinegar and baking soda" (although kitchen chemistry is very cool), but "wow, battery acid, zinc and limestone will make lethal chlorine gas! cool!". (iirc)
While I don't want MOST kids getting that spin on it (:D), some golly-gee-whiz experiments at a YOUNG age, with some more every year, will help keep them interested in learning. And up here in Canada, at least, we've got a big problem with keeping boys interested in learning. But boys like things that go bang. Simple solution.
but I couldnt help notice they didnt include pictures of a Glass Bottom Boat
Excuse me if I'm wrong... but doesn't the title here in my browser say "Slashdot: News for Nerds. Stuff that matters.
How did this make a headline?
As far as explosives go, lots of cool things to do with chemicals like magnesium and nitrates. Just might have to search a bit harder. `8r) But hell, just making hydrogen is fun, from electricity and water.
Gonzo Granzeau
"Nothing the god of biomechanics wouldn't let you into heaven for.." -Roy Batty
finally proof of what goes on inside when you eat Cornflakes
I always wanted to do this but was never allowed although I tried it with flower but got much worse results
if you really like to blow things up custard powder rocks !
this is why in medieval times they never allowed candles in the mill
regards
john jones
... there are not captions, or explanation (theoretical or "proven") of how the chemical mechanism works! Unless it's so simple that it should be self-evident...
[BOOM]
"We're going to need a new Timmy!"
[Guess the source?]
I mean, I'm all for Chemistry and all that, since the physical sciences pay for my grant, but this is just a random university website: why is this front page worthy? Was there no Microsoft news today? Or is this symptomatic of a general decline in the tech sector?
"I will take the Ring," he said, "though I do not know the way."
Not to plug my own site, but we have a really cool "fire in the bottle" how-to video.
Wooden armaments to battle your imaginary foes!
Let's post really obscure articles with absolutely no details, that way we can be sure the /. effect kicks in asap...
Think outside the... Hey, where'd the friggin' box go?
If you liked that, you might also want to check out the physics demonstration archive at my old school (UMD).
IIRC It's the largest in the country.
Oh yeah, the Question of the Week is also very good.
Now that I took a second job where I have access to a professional Chemical lab. Something to do when I get bored with what I an supposed to be doing.
I also remember another demonstration in which he blew the lid of a can. I can't remember what he did then though.
Great teacher, if it weren't for his preparation I wouldn't have been able to get a 5 on the AP Chemistry test.
My only political goal is to see to it that no political party achieves its goals.
Wait until they put up pictures of their web server exploding from the /. effect...
sig fault
Rhodium
Phenethylamines I Have Known and Loved
Tryptamines I Have Known and Loved
Erowid
Lycaeum
It's a goatsex link, unfortunately. Wish there was a real mirror.
-- We all have enough strength to endure the misfortunes of other people. La Rochefoucauld
I present The Terrorist's Handbook
...on of the more interesting ones out there. Oh, if that link doesn't work try here instead.
It's illegal to posess chemicals or use normal products inconsistant with their labeling. A local guy here who was into electronics and chemistry was brought up on charges under some "anti-terrorism law" and for having "drug paraphernalia" (aka graduated cylinders, a pipet, soldering iron, etc) and was sent to prison for 24 years and 7 months. Watch out folks it's not just explosions or burns that'll get you, the law is out there too!
and he also had all his equipment confiscated.
The Giant Artificial Poo! Although if you have sulfuric acid in your digestive tract, you're more of a man then I am.
And the brethren went away edified.
Random User writes: "No news on this site, just great photos of home-made explosions along with instructions on how to make home-made pipe bombs by yourself at home. Don't try this at home!"
Uh, here it is, complete with instructions..
'cause we don't want another Goat linking around here.!!
I was interested to see the "Barking Dog" reaction, because my high school chemistry teacher performed a chemical demonstration which produced a dog-bark sound. The reaction was different, though, and I'm wondering if anyone here has seen anything like this.
What my teacher did was to dissolve white phosphorus in carbon bisulfide, soak a circle of filter paper in the solution, and lay the paper over the mouth of a large (maybe 1 liter) graduated cylinder. The carbon disulfide quickly evaporates, leaving a residue of phosphorus on the filter paper, which spontaneously ignites, sucking the air out of the graduated cylinder...and making a sound like the barking of a dog.
hyacinthus.
Although I don't pretend to know much beyond OSHA HAZWOPER taught me about chemical regulations, perhaps the reason for some of the more exotic/dangerous solutions might be that these people are based in Leeds, which is in the UK. From what I have been told by my British chemistry teacher Mom, regulations are a little more lax in the UK.
I don't think I'd want anything like that passing through my digestive tract. I always heard that feces were undigested fiber and dead bacteria. The "turd" in that experiment is just a piece of incinerated sugar. By the way, where is the professor's protective goggles and lab coat, and what about ventilation equipment? You can see the fumes rising from that black gunk.
Roanna
Please visit ZOID CITY Community and Community Competition http://www.zc2zc3.st
OK, I skipped all the demos. I enjoyed chemistry but hated the labs. On the bottom of the page is a link to one of the web's most gorgeous periodic tables. Each group of elements is a different rainbow color.
If you click on each element you see an image of it in nature and get its history. If you click on the chemical information you see its image in pure form.
There are quicktime movies and Shockwave demos too. This is not the visual periodic table for nthing.
Roanna
Please visit ZOID CITY Community and Community Competition http://www.zc2zc3.st
Reading over the experiments listed on the site reminded me of one experiment we did in honors high school chemistry which was NOT included. Our "teacher" was actually someone from the art department who was pressed into service as a chemistry instructor because he had a few chemistry classes in college. He walked in one day with a freaky, glazed look in his eye and announced to the class that we were going to be doing an experiment to start the day. He went into the back room, came back with a pair of tongs and bottle of kerosene containing a chunk of potassium metal, and gestured for us to join him outside. We gathered around a large rain puddle from the previous day's storm, and he asked what class was in the room next door -- English, as it turned out. Without any additional explanation, he reached into the bottle, grabbed the chunk of potassium with the tongs, flung it into the puddle, and stepped back. After a few seconds, the metal predictably exploded with a VERY loud bang, causing 35 English students to scream in unison and then rush to the window. The chemistry teacher stood there with a goofy grin on his face, and then shook his head and muttered to himself, "Yup...it's exothermic all right." (For those who read the article, he also did the thermite experiment during the year, but put about three times the recommended amount of magnesium in each student's setup. There were metal chunks in the ceiling tile for years afterwards...)
"she says i'm lousy conversation. as if that's supposed to help."
An interesting thing to note about chemistry demonstrations: Having participated in several demos at elementary schools, I've noticed that it doesn't matter what you blow up or set on fire, kids are always more impressed by do-it-yourself Gack/silly putty. Go figure.
... Everytime he made an experiment it exploded.
;-)
My favorite "kitchen experiment" is igniting a mix of flour and air to show that any powder being relatively explosive (very fun not to try at home)
But the most violent explosion was mixing H2 and Cl2 and igniting with a laser beam (really NOT try at home, explodes at light exposure
Back in high school one of the home economics classes had people carry around flour or sugar "babies" (I think both were used). During that whole time I wanted nothing more than to find a forgotten sugar baby and dump sulfuric acid on it before returning it to the home econ department. I believe they would have considered the baby dead and failed whoever lost it.
Everytime you look at porn a devil gets their horns.
Add some iodine crystals to liquid ammonia (you just need the stuff that's dissolved in water). Filter and don't dry!
I remember the time I made my biggest batch ever. About two tablespoons worth. It was family reunion and I put the stuff in blotting paper on my windowsill to remove excess liquid.
I called my cousin, told him I've got something cool to show him. Took the paper, semi-dry now, walked through the crowded living room, went out the door. Shut the door, said, "This i..." and things got fuzzy here.
Right, next thing I remember my hand was blue-purple, without feeling and I had this zinging noise in my head. He was staring at my hand like he's never going to see it again...
So, the lessons here are:
Well, have fun!
"-and those damned stupid barbarians with their damned stupid swords will win after all..." -- Larry Niven (The Magic Goes Away)
I seem to remember a friend doing this in Chem II class in high school, and getting detention for a week in the process.
Mr. Parker, I wonder if you (or your kids) read Slashdot...
Oh, what glorious fun we had with thermite, with a VERY small bit of sodium in chlorine (yikes!), with deflagrated oxygen and red phosphorus.
We never did get around to the filter-paper-soaked-with-perchlorate "land mines" that pop under your sneakers, but we *did* talk about it.
"How many light bulbs does it take to change a person?" --BMcC-->
Was when I was a senior in high school, the chem teacher caught some students heating a test tube filled with finely powdered zinc and sulfur mixed together out in the open. He took their test tube away from them and griped them out, then he wanted to show the entire class what would happen, so he put the test tube in a clamped stand over a bunsen burner inside the fume hood and closed the big thick oak and bulletproof glass door of the fume hood. The mixture heated for several minutes and everyone's attention span gradually faded away, then when everyone least expected it, the thing exploded with enough force to knock the thick oak door off the front of the fume hood and the glass popped out of the frame and hit the floor and broke. There was nothing left of the test tube and the clamp stand and bunsen burner ended up as shrapnel. Frightened the crap out of everybody in the room. The school principal came running down the hall to see what happened and everybody in all the other classrooms nearby came running also to see if anybody was hurt. The chem teacher got into big trouble.
The demonstration you talk about is how I learned
:)
about lab safety in high school (the hard way).
For my final demo in high school, I had bored a hole in a slab of dry ice (which is
rather difficult to do) and placed some magnesium powder in it. My chemistry teacher also recommended that I mix in some potassium chlorate (strong oxidizer) in there.
Well, I prepared the mixture, got another slab of dry ice to place over it, _held it down with my hand _(with the chemistry teacher watching), and lit the fuse.
I should have noticed the evil smirk on the teachers face as I did this...
What resulted was a little explosion right under my hand that broke the glassware on the bench and scared the daylights out of me. Luckily, the debris had spread out laterally, and I was not hurt.
Other things I learned not to do by watching others in high school:
-Do not stick your hand in forming polyurethane
-Do NOT set up an experiment that produces gaseous copper
-Phosphorus left in the sink will catch fire spontaneously in the middle of class
-elemental sodium is not a toy
Moral: always trust your own [hopefully paranoid] judgement about lab & on the job safety.
Next time: how to alarm bedroom community with "improvised thermite"
BTW, our textbook was Chemical Demonstrations by Bassam Z. Shakhashiri.
Some video of: Fun with Liquid Nitrogen and Fun with High Voltage Electrical Discharges
Long ago I dated a chemistry grad student and he told me: "There are old chemists. There are organic chemists. There are no old organic chemists."
Roanna
Please visit ZOID CITY Community and Community Competition http://www.zc2zc3.st