Slashdot Mirror
Chemistry Sets for Adults?
An Anonymous Coward asks "I've been pursuing a few different lines of study, to refresh myself in basic sciences before I return to school. Right now I am reading up on Chemistry, and thought it would be fun to acquire a chemistry set just to play around with and maybe learn a few things from. Do any science geeks here have any suggestions?" My childhood garage probably still has purple and black stains all over it (lucky I was wearing glasses). 300 in one electronics kits, anyone?
Carolina Biological Supply has a bunch of learning kits, books, and software that would probably help you out. We get most of our lab supplies through them.
She saw me reading the Radio Shack 'Getting Started In Electronic's book over and over again and (in between studies for various certifications) and decided to get me a kit.
:)
She gave me bookmarks after chrismas...
Good list of kits: http://www.hobbytron.net/electronickits.html
I have the 300-on-1 which is $70 and is solderless.
Also check out http://www.kitguy.com/ - seems to be a definitive resource...
Cybie! aka Ralph Bonnell
Edmund Scientific
http://www.scientificsonline.com
My dad used to take me there when I was a kid, a very trippy place. It got me through all of my science classes with pre-made projects.
Uh, limonene isn't a good thing to be eating.
It smells fantastic, but it's a pretty potent solvent and can irritate the hell out of your digestive tract.
--
the strongest word is still the word "free"
ACK!!! Great stars! Are you *MAD*?! NEVER take anything from the Anarchist's Cookbook. Might as well drink a jug of chlorine, it'll do the exact same thing and save you a lot of time.
Paul Anderson
"I drank WHAT?!" -- Socrates
Here's an idea.... Here in Toronto we have a great store downtown called Active Surplus. You can buy just about anything there. They have a pretty good glassware section where you can get most of the things you need... stopcocks (*snicker), flasks, beakers, pipettes, etc. I would think that most major metro areas have a similar store. Great place to get all the glassware you'd need. I would think another great source of info and leads would be the local highschool. Go in some day and have a chat with the Chem Teacher. I would think they'd have catalogues and suggestions for what you should have to get started!
IN SOVIET RUSSIA, sig changes you!
I agree. Building your own chemistry set would be more fun, and you would learn more.
The best way to learn is to teach. Collecting a bunch of good chemistry experiments, and the sources for the materials, would make a great project.
And you aren't the only one who benefits...
Some places to start:
Delights of Chemistry
Demonstration Lab
Lecture Demonstrations
Chemistry Resources
Some Sources of chemicals:
CHEM Scientific
Fisher
Sagent Welch
Carolina
I am certain you will get lots more from other Slashdaughters...
Free book: Science Toys You Can Make
That dude shouldn't get just any chemistry set. He should ignore inorganic chemistry and go for the gold (organic chemistry). He needs to read Phikal first. Then he needs to check out Rhodium and The Vaults of Erowid and a gander at The Lycaeum
"Only in their dreams can men truly be free 'twas always thus, and always thus will be."
--Tom Schulman
~. anyone? http://smokedot.org/
Why not fork?
To clarify, there are multiple versions of the Anarchist Cookbook, and if that's a copy of the original, just strap some TNT to yourself and light it, it really will save you time in the long run. The original is replete with errors, many chemical, that could cause lots of damage.
However, I doubt that's the original, since the original is extremely rare (if you don't see something about the bridges in NYC, you're not looking at the original). Still, it's not a wise move to perform chemical experiments using instructions from a book that's designed to cause destruction, chaos, and anarchy.
If you're really just looking to win a Darwin award, however...
You zap the moderators with a wand of humor! The moderators resist!
it isn't *really* napalm, it's just a very-very fun, flamable paste
--fetch daddy's blue fright wig, i must be handsome when i release my rage
be warned however, creating explosives, or drugs for that matter, is nothing a chemistry kit could archieve most of the time.. the only synthetic drug I am aware of that could be made this way would be GHB, which can be easily produced by mixing two chemicals, then heating them carefully. As for explosives.. creating things that go boom without the exact knowledge of what you do often result in the quick and impressive end of the creator's life. :)
Karma
If you are serious about doing synthetic work, I
would see about taking several lab courses at a
local college. They are already set up with
sources for the reagents, safty equipment (ie,
hoods, glove boxes, safe storage for the reagents,
safe disposal of the reagents, plus more
analytical instrumentation so that you will be
able to confirm that what you made is what you
intended to make.
If you really insist on seting up a lab at home,
make sure that you set up a safe lab. Please do
the following:
1) Ensure that you can safely store, handle and dispose of any reagents.
2)Be sure to join an amateur scientist oganization, and find some help, if only to double check that you are doing #1 correctly.
3) consider the legal difficulties
-in the state of texas it is a felony to own
certain common glassware without a permit.
Just to be safe, check your local laws along
with the fire codes.
4) If you can legally own glassware, consider
buying the microscale equipment. It should
be the same price or less for it, however
you'll use smaller volumn of reagent.
Doing actual chemistry work such as distillations, recrystallizations, etc., is a severe pain unless you have lots of (very expensive) equipment. Therefore, I recommend getting this book:
4 86 676285
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0
which has a bunch of interesting demos that are fairly easy to perform if you have the right chemicals, although somewhat dangerous. Even if you can't get the chemicals, the demos are still sort of fun to read about.
I wouldn't advocate using most essential oils in food. You could use them in absolutely microscopic amounts -- but most kitchens/chefs don't have the tools, time or inclination to measure out correct amounts of essential oils. And leaving out the "potentially physically unsafe" part of it, essential oils are so strong in flavor and scent that they will easily overwhelm the other flavors in a dish.
That's why most commonly used "food safe" extracts have an ingredient list that goes something like "distilled water, alcohol, whatever oil". The water provides a buffer.
By all means, check out the Student Science Service (http://www.tri-esssciences.com) in Burbank, California. They sell a few high-end chemistry sets of their own design (these are not kiddie sets). Ira Katz and his daughter, Kim, are the owners and are easilly accessable via e-mail. They're also one of the largest suppliers of pyrotechnic special effects to the local movie studios. Can't recommend 'em enough. -Kevin
hah i wish i had mod points ... anyway there are lots of good sites out there already, no need for /. :)
check Overgrow for all your hydro,organic,chem, etc needs
Moderation Totals: Flamebait=2, Troll=1, Redundant=1, Insightful=6, Overrated=1, Underrated=1, Total=12. (not mine)
You can get all the chemicals you need at hardware stores, etc.
Examples: ammonia (cleaning), potassium nitrate (fertilizer), calcium cloride (road salt), ammonium nitrate (fertilizer), various petroleum distillates (everything), all sorts of metals, various exotic metal oxides (dry paint powders and ceramic glazes), sodium hypoclorite (bleach), hydrofluoric acid (for glass etching), hydrochloric acid, calcium sulfate (gypsum), etc... you can get almost any chemical you need for any purpose from common products, or manufacture it from common products. You just have to know what you're doing.
Repeal the DMCA!
Alfa Aesar sells chemicals en masse. They'll even send you a catalog for free. I'm not sure, but you probably have to have a license to buy anything from them.
Of course, as moderation of this post shows, both of them are unfortunately also rather useful for trolling, so I'm not sure how long you'll be able to use these.
My dad (a chemist) had got me this book ages ago. I believe its in its 4th edition now! A great read
Agreed. If you've never seen the Anarchist's Cookbook, it's rather like a long "Overrated" Slashdot post printed on paper with pictures and a handsome black cover. The guy doesn't really understand most of the things he discusses and is on the firmest ground when he sticks with safe topics (guns and knives). It was written during the Vietnam era by a pissed-off draft age guy. Now he's turned to Jesus and says he wishes he hadn't written the book at all. Another mind lost to religion.
The best explosive recipe in the book is one that the author discounts in passing- nitrogen triiodide, or NI3. (Actually, the structure is NI3-NH3, where the NH3 is bound to the NI3 electrostatically by what resemble hydrogen bonds.) According to the Cookbook a fly landing on it will set it off (which is probably true, although I never succeeded in getting a fly to cooperate). It claims it's too useless for any serious consideration when planning your anarchy. It might not be good for that, but it's great for pranks. I've had so much fun with that stuff. The secret to NI3 is DO NOT MAKE TOO MUCH OF IT. That way you can keep your fingers. A gram is way too much. Just take a few iodine crystals and put them under ammonia, and presto, it turns into this black powder. If you keep it under the ammonia, it's actually quite stable. When not under ammonia (even when under pure water) it might go off at any moment. Pick it up from the ammonia with a plastic eyedropper, and deposit the black sludge on some surface. Once dry it rapidly loses its NH3 adduct and becomes extremely sensitive to shock, decomposing explosively producing N2 and I2. Don't get traces of it on your clothes or skin, or you'll be treated to a continuous snap-crackle-pop of microscopic explosions (quite annoying).
Finding references on it is difficult- it's almost like people don't want to do research on it. It's probably unstable because the iodine atoms are huge compared to the nitrogen. Congestion around the central N forces the molecule into a planar shape, with repulsive interactions among the three iodines, so it's unhappy for steric reasons. One thing I did find out was that the stuff turns bright orange if you leave it under the ammonia for a long time (like a month). This is probably because it picks up additional NH3 adducts.
- Calc 1 & 2 (decent book, 3rd ed. is cheap and plentiful)
- Physics 1
- Chem 1 (Chem for scientists & engineers)
That's the college level stuff that I've found most useful. Review Algebra & Trig if you're not too sure about your skills. Good luck.Differentiation & Integration
Newtonian mechanics. Make sure you get a physics book, not an Engineering mechanics book.
Find a syllabus for a Mechanical Engineering major. It should be mostly physical chemistry (thermodynamics, stoichiometry, etc.)
~A'Ëq'i4d)^'$ÊSÈòB
I suppose being outdoors would substitute for the lack of a fume hood, and a garden hose would be ok for eyewash. However, your never suppose to work alone in a lab, because if something goes wrong you don't have anyone to help you. How do you find your way to an eye wash when you can't see?
A freshman lab manual from any college bookstore will give you an idea what some simple experiments are, and what you learn from them. Reading through one would be a good place to start to figure out what you would want to try. But, it's still best if your assisted somehow. And I won't recommend anything to do on your own...
There are some people who need to actually see something happen in order to believe it's true or let it sink in, and that's where lab work really helps learning. But, the number of people I've seen cut themselves, spill stuff, or start accidental fires pretty much tells me, it's best to do in a lab, with an instructor. At least the instructor knows the risk of each experiment, and knows what to do when things go wrong.
The goal of chemistry lab classes is more to teach good lab techniques and lab safety. Learning chemistry in the lab is only a secondary benefit, most of the learning actually comes from books and lectures. It's the physical skills of handling materials that's learned in lab, and without instruction there isn't much learning you can do on these skills on your own.