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Illustrated Guide To Home Chemistry Experiments

Posted by timothy on from the when-gilbert's-is-not-available dept.

ptorrone writes "The sad fact is chemistry and chemistry sets have been on the decline for the last couple decades. All is not lost, however. We (MAKE magazine) have a new book called The Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments. Learn how to smelt copper, purify alcohol, synthesize rayon, test for drugs and poisons, and much more. In this video, Bob the chemist shows how to get around a pesky DEA regulation so you can make your own iodine. GeekDad also reviewed the book."

56 comments

  1. Only until.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Only until the neighbors call the cops for the 'smell' and 'smoke'. Terroristsssssss in neighborhood!!!

    1. Re:Only until.. by philspear · · Score: 3, Insightful

      How come every single biology article, even the recent one about discovery of 120,000 year old bacteria, gets tagged "whatcouldpossiblygowrong" but books that tell kids how to "Purify alcohol by distillation, Produce hydrogen and oxygen gas by electrolysis, Smelt metallic copper from copper ore you make yourself" doesn't?

      There are billions of much more highly evolved bacteria in you right now than what scientists dug up. On the other hand, my next door neighbors can't cook bacon without the whole place filling up with smoke, if they tried to purify their own alchohol, I'm quite certain they would die of methanol poisoning, blow up the building, or both simultaneously. And then homeland security would arrive just in time to arrest me.

      I guess it comes down to Hollywood has never made a movie about the potential dangers of home copper smelting.

    2. Re:Only until.. by Mr.+Slippery · · Score: 1

      How come every single biology article, even the recent one about discovery of 120,000 year old bacteria, gets tagged "whatcouldpossiblygowrong" but books that tell kids how to "Purify alcohol by distillation, Produce hydrogen and oxygen gas by electrolysis, Smelt metallic copper from copper ore you make yourself" doesn't?

      Because a biological disaster could start a plague or blight or damage the ecosystem, directly or indirectly killing millions; while a home chemistry experiment gone bad is unlikely to kill more people than the experimenter and maybe a bystander or two.

      I guess we might count the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing as the worst "home chemistry disaster" ever; 168 people were killed. Compared to a epidemic, or even a modest biological warfare effort, that's nothing. Which is not to belittle the impact of that attack, but in the big picture of disasters, stacked up against the tens of millions killed by the Spanish Flu, it's clear that a biological mishap has a lot more potential for mass killing.

      --
      Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
      You cannot wash away blood with blood
    3. Re:Only until.. by GradiusCVK · · Score: 1

      It's about common and uncommon threats... same reason people are more afraid of flying than driving a car, even though the chances of dying in a car crash are orders of magnitude higher than in a plane crash. It's not every day that scientists dig up ancient bacteria... on the other hand, most of us have played chemist a few times as a kid.

  2. All I can say is: by snowraver1 · · Score: 1

    Awesome! I want my own lab so bad.

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  3. Just remember to use cash. by AmIAnAi · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Just remember to use cash when paying for this one, else you might find your name on a 'watch' list.

    --
    Any sufficiently advanced bug is indistinguishable from a feature.
    1. Re:Just remember to use cash. by Digital_Quartz · · Score: 1

      But isn't it fun to see how many different aliases you can get onto the watch list?

    2. Re:Just remember to use cash. by smellsofbikes · · Score: 5, Informative

      At least in the area I live, most chemistry/science supply places have gone to cash-only sales because they are required to track and report ID's on check and credit card sales but not on cash sales. Interesting unintended side-effect.

      --
      Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
    3. Re:Just remember to use cash. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is why I wouldn't be surprised if many world governments do away with physical currency and make all buying and selling electronic.

    4. Re:Just remember to use cash. by smellsofbikes · · Score: 2, Insightful

      While there are still brick-and-mortar stores, there is still barter. The problem arises when amazon has displaced all the local stores and cash is simply not viable. (Turns out amazon sells chem glassware: who knew?)

      --
      Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
    5. Re:Just remember to use cash. by hiryuu · · Score: 4, Insightful

      But isn't it fun to see how many different aliases you can get onto the watch list?

      Not for those of us who have very common names, of the type that are more frequently used to "assemble" an alias. My birth name is one of the most common in the US - not quite on the order of "John Smith," but pretty close - and this unfortunate bit has landed me on the TSA no-fly list for most of the last year, among other bits of fun.

      Back on topic, I'm a chemist by profession, and I always find things like this cool as all hell. I remember the chemistry sets of yore, including some of the "antique" sets used by my father and a a few of his younger uncles, and the progression over the years of what can be done with what's available to the layman has become increasingly disappointing. What's the likelihood that any modern set would ever come with a distillation column?

      Good tools and decent, interesting references must be available to help get people (especially kids!) excited about, interested in, and practicing hard sciences. I know I'm not saying anything new to lots of people around here, but dammit, I'm gonna say it anyway.

      --
      Karma: Excellent, but still won't get you laid.
    6. Re:Just remember to use cash. by neomunk · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This will not happen until there is a way found to make electronic transactions safe for black market use. Drug dealing, gun dealing and the sale of various other contraband has been a large source of income for those that pull the strings of government for a very long time. This massive source of income isn't easy to just give up, even when balanced by the prospect of the economic panopticon.

    7. Re:Just remember to use cash. by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      Have you considered changing your name to something more unique?

    8. Re:Just remember to use cash. by Grishnakh · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's been a large source of income for the government itself, too. Remember, the CIA was caught selling cocaine a while ago.

    9. Re:Just remember to use cash. by mstahl · · Score: 2, Funny

      Absolutely agreed, but once in a rare while that's kind of a good thing.

    10. Re:Just remember to use cash. by mstahl · · Score: 1

      The black market would probably still use cash or something similar to it if there was enough of it still in circulation. It would become sort of like how it is in William Gibson books where the only transactions using cash are illegal ones, and nobody respectable accepts it as currency. A separate shadow economy would develop, but an economy nonetheless.

      Most illegal transactions stay in cash form anyway so as to avoid tax problems (see also: Al Capone).

    11. Re:Just remember to use cash. by kv9 · · Score: 1

      My birth name is one of the most common in the US - not quite on the order of "John Smith," but pretty close Bob Smith?
      --
      Stop Computers/Cars Analogies on S
    12. Re:Just remember to use cash. by geekoid · · Score: 1

      Yes, but you get a few million wrong people on the list, and it is no good anymore.
      Maybe practicality will kill it, or at least make it useless.

      Keep sayin' it brother!

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    13. Re:Just remember to use cash. by geekoid · · Score: 3, Informative

      Cash cards make it safe.
      As do those pesky things called banks.
      When dealing with LARGE transaction, no body uses cash. They have accountants and they move money to different banks around the globe. When that's problematic, they create their own banks.

      Seriously, this isn't 1930 anymore.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    14. Re:Just remember to use cash. by mrmeval · · Score: 1

      Fuck it. I'll buy 10 of them and give them to children.
      Just fuck it.

      --
      I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
    15. Re:Just remember to use cash. by aminorex · · Score: 1

      I'm working as a consultant in a city far from my home, where I pull down $10k in each 2 week paycheck. I get paid with a bank check drawn on North Fork Bank, which was recently purchased by Citigroup. My local bank is Bank of America. In order to get immediate access to the funds when a check arrives, I walk over to the nearest Citibank, where I have to stand around waiting for about 15 minutes while they work out approvals to cash the check. Then I get handed stacks of bills -- usually they don't have enough 100's on hand, so I have to take a mix of 100s, 50s, and 20s -- sometimes as much as 4 inches thick. I then stuff these in my pants, and walk 3 blocks to a subway station, occasionally checking to see that no one who was in the bank at the time has followed me. There I ride 2 stops and walk 1 block to my local bank, where I stand in line for 15-30 minutes, depending on how busy it is, in order to deposit the (now sweaty) cash.

      Ain't modern technology grand. It would be easier if I could take it in gold coin. 10 eagles in my pocket would hardly make a bulge. Or maybe a Yap Island cash stone. I could ride it like a unicycle, thereby saving a subway ride.

      --
      -I like my women like I like my tea: green-
    16. Re:Just remember to use cash. by wronskyMan · · Score: 1

      Sounds fun, but why not just open a temporary Citibank account and deposit it, then you can use an ATM/check for immediate needs and transfer the rest to your BoA account?

      --
      --- You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you mad- Neal (not Cowboy) Boortz
  4. Excellent idea by ResidntGeek · · Score: 5, Interesting

    For my money, though, it doesn't get better than the Encyclopedia Britannica 11th edition. It was written after chemistry was mostly understood, but before the advent of commercial chemical suppliers. Thus, in the nitric acid entry, for example, you'll find instructions for making it from nitre and sulphuric acid. In a modern text it would be described theoretically, and would likely be stated in such a way that you'd start looking for a place to buy sulphuric acid and potassium nitrate without getting on a government watchlist, but with the encyclopedia you go outside and build a nitre-bed, or maybe scrape some saltpeter off your basement wall if you're lucky, and go hunt down some sulphur to make the acid. It doesn't leave out the theory, but it gives you a real sense of how doable most chemical processes are even without a lab or a chemical supplier.

    --
    ResidntGeek
    1. Re:Excellent idea by snowraver1 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Sulphur is the easiest element to collect. Just walk along train tracks and look for the yellow pebbles that fall through the sulphur cars. I was able to collect maybe 10 grams in about 5 mins.

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      Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. This comment may not be copied in any way including, but not limited to caching.
    2. Re:Excellent idea by nbauman · · Score: 4, Interesting

      For my money, though, it doesn't get better than the Encyclopedia Britannica 11th edition. You mean this one? http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Gunpowder?
    3. Re:Excellent idea by triffid_98 · · Score: 4, Informative
      Or you could just walk over to your OSH garden center and buy a box of that stuff, as long as you don't need 100% purity that stuff is easy to get (used to improve soil acidity in alkaline soils).

      Sulphur is the easiest element to collect. Just walk along train tracks and look for the yellow pebbles that fall through the sulphur cars. I was able to collect maybe 10 grams in about 5 mins.

    4. Re:Excellent idea by ooby · · Score: 1

      Nitrogen is easier to collect. It's air.

    5. Re:Excellent idea by snowraver1 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Actually Air is not nitrogen, it just contains nitrogen. It's like saying Coke is water.

      Air has Oxygen, water vapor, evil CO2, methane, helium, hydrogen, nitrogen oxides, dust & smoke, and FSM knows what else in it.

      I stand by my statement that sulpher is the easiest element to collect.

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      Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. This comment may not be copied in any way including, but not limited to caching.
    6. Re:Excellent idea by masterzora · · Score: 1

      I believe that was supposed to be a joke regarding your "as long as you don't need 100% purity".... At least, I hope so.

      --
      Remember, open source is free as in speech, not free as in bear.
    7. Re:Excellent idea by masterzora · · Score: 1

      Goddammit, I mis-interpreted the slashdot threading. Ignore me.

      --
      Remember, open source is free as in speech, not free as in bear.
    8. Re:Excellent idea by whoisisis · · Score: 1

      Air is ~80% nitrogen, so for many purposes,
      air = nitrogen. At least from a physicists point of view.

      To make liquid nitrogen: collect a lot of air,
      compress it violently, wait for it to cool down
      and release into bottle...

    9. Re:Excellent idea by conureman · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I always recommend 'Fortunes in Formulas'. It's got some zany old time recipes. BTW unless you have a stable against the side of your house, that white efflorescence in your basement isn't what you want. Look under old dung-heaps, eh?

      --
      The cost of that cleanup, of course, will be borne by taxpayers, not industry.
    10. Re:Excellent idea by admiralfurburger · · Score: 1

      OK
      http://rapidshare.com/files/73431487/hiscox__sloane_-_fortunes_in_formulas.djvu

  5. Slashvertisment or honest publicity? by Seakip18 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Hmmm...usually I think we would see this as book review. But honestly, how many times would a direct link to the product page not produce a rage of criticism of how /. is selling out?

    Then again, us, non-professionally trained chemists that happen to be geeks would love to learn more about practical and interesting science, including and but not limited chemistry. This book hits right at what I'd want on my bookshelf, next to my "Good Eat's" cookbook and 60-70's era DIY books.

    So what do y'all think it is? Slashvertisment or a stab at the modern sterile environment that is public school science?

    --
    import system.cool.Sig;
    1. Re:Slashvertisment or honest publicity? by navygeek · · Score: 2, Interesting

      While the summary does have qualities we identify with the average Slashvertisement, I'd have to say it isn't one - or at least one I'm willing to give the benefit of doubt on. As the summary says, quality books and chemistry sets are in serious lack these days. This isn't the editors letting in an ad for a 'been there, done that' item, like the flash drive the other day, it's something that we as geeks, nerds, and science buffs can really get into. Product hocking like this I don't mind.

    2. Re:Slashvertisment or honest publicity? by scubamage · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I agree its kind of a slashvertisement, but honestly I'd prefer to see everyone on /. know about this book before its completely illegal to practice any form of chemistry. I can only imagine that home chemistry kits will soon be as illegal as they were just before the revolution in pre-Bolshevek Russia. Because, you know, we have to protect the children and homeland security from the terrorists.

    3. Re:Slashvertisment or honest publicity? by nuttycom · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Agreed; that's why I ordered my copy today. My daughter's just a year old right now, but by the time she's old enough to appreciate a book like this I expect it'll be next to impossible to find, sadly.

    4. Re:Slashvertisment or honest publicity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Being a single dad who's a chemist by trade, I had to pick my daughter up from daycare a few times while I still needed to finish up a few purifications in the lab. So while I was performing column chromatography, I would mix up a 2 molar solution of citric acid and a 2 molar solution of hydrogen sodium carbonate (neither will immediately burn skin!), with some bromocresol green as an indicator. I'd load one solution into a burette, and the other into an erlenmeyer flask on a stir plate and let my daughter go drop-by-drop to end up with green in the flask. Acidic, yellow. Basic, blue. Neutral, green. She always enjoyed herself with a labcoat on, safety glasses, small gloves, sitting at the bench, working next to Daddy!

      She even used to ask me if we could go in on the weekends so she could learn and do some more chemistry! All this for a five year old!...she's nine now, and loves the lab! I will definitely purchase this book to do some experiments safely in our basement. She will love to learn them, and it will be good time spent together! It's too bad that books like these that can actually teach kids to experiment will soon be outlawed to keep our society safe. We all pay dearly for the errors of a few, and this country is going down a terrible slope...

      A little knowledge is a dangerous thing huh...!!!

  6. Safety goggles! by nbauman · · Score: 2, Informative

    Be sure to wear your safety goggles. I know!
    Although I must say that the eye heals suprisingly well after a minor injury. http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/358/21/2265 (Hyphema is blood in the eye.)

  7. Busted by Thelasko · · Score: 4, Insightful

    As some have mentioned you run a risk of being targeted as a terrorist by your local law enforcement if they discover such a lab in one's posession.

    However, I think one is far more likely local law enforcement will suspect production of methamphetamine.

    --
    One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
    1. Re:Busted by Thelasko · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I would also like to add that not only has the ban, illicit production, and enforcement ruined the chemistry set for millions of people. It has also destroyed the ability to get inexpensive allergy medication with a built in decongestant. For example, Loratadine (claritin) is sold at Wal-Mart for $4 for a 30 day supply. For those of us who require a decongestant, it's 2-4 times more expensive to get a measly 10 day supply of Loratadine-D (Claritin-D), and you have to sign over your soul to get it.

      --
      One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
    2. Re:Busted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Tell me about it. I want my *real* Mini Thins back! Those things propped me up during college (Ritalin is for pussies!).

      As someone with a mildly asthmatic wife, I was dismayed to lose a source of cheap ephedrine when they outlawed the stuff. Now, we're forced to buy those overpriced Primatene products. One of these days, I'll get around to ordering some Mormon Tea (ephedra) plants as a reasonable substitute.

      Long live the Never Ending War On Drugs. yay!

    3. Re:Busted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's because the geniuses in charge think that making it impossible to get Pseudoephedrine will save the children. Never mind securing the border. That would be silly......

      Just another example of trying to look like you are doing something while accomplishing nothing....

    4. Re:Busted by isham · · Score: 1

      Or you can buy the 300 day supply at costco for around $11....

    5. Re:Busted by MagusSlurpy · · Score: 1

      Why be just suspected of meth production? Those PS3s ain't gonna buy themselves!

      --
      My sister opened a computer store in Hawaii. She sells C shells by the seashore.
    6. Re:Busted by Thelasko · · Score: 1

      1. I don't have a Costco membership

      2. It's due to state laws. I don't know where you live, but here, it's not legal to sell that much pseudoephedrine at one time. Even when you buy a 10 day supply they put you on a special government list.

      --
      One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
    7. Re:Busted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, it's ridiculous. Here in Iowa, I've made sure: a) to sign my sig as the crappiest possible squiggle. I refuse to sign a proper signature for p. b) I stocked up. I bought far more Tussin CF than I ever would otherwise (well, 2 bottles instead of 1 at any rate.) I will NOT put up with this shit when I'm sick, so I bought extra so I wouldn't have to.

  8. home chemistry by jschen · · Score: 1

    If I work in a chemistry lab, and I spend way more hours a day there than I do at home, then does that count as home chemistry? What about my coworker who for one summer decided to sleep in the lab (admittedly in the office area) nightly? Does that count?

  9. But... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    The goggles, they do nothing!

  10. Geez- talk about getting history wrong by edremy · · Score: 2, Informative
    The science of gunpowder was well documented in there, but the history is dead wrong. Schwartz and Bacon were in no way the creators of gunpowder- the Chinese developed it centuries before, and there is ample historical documentation for the development of various strains, uses in warfare, etc. China is not mentioned *anywhere* in the article.

    I've heard a lot of people talk about how great the 1911 version of EB is- based on this article, I would not trust it for anything remotely historical that involves something outside of Europe. This isn't a minor error- this is a massive ton of ignorance.

    --
    "Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"
    1. Re:Geez- talk about getting history wrong by edremy · · Score: 2, Informative

      Quick follow up- China is mentioned briefly as having created incendiaries, but not explosives, in the same class as greek fire. (Missed it the first time) This is also dead wrong- the Chinese did have explosive formulations. Greek fire, OTOH, was not a nitre+fuel based mixture to the best of our knowledge, although the exact formula has been lost.

      --
      "Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"
    2. Re:Geez- talk about getting history wrong by geekoid · · Score: 1

      Just edit the page..oh wait, it's a real encyclopedia, none of this bad wikipedia stuff...

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  11. Bob the Chemist? by Tabernaque86 · · Score: 1

    Who does he think he is, Bill Nye the Science Guy?

  12. Practicing chemistry by Translation+Error · · Score: 1

    "Sir, we've received a tip that you've been illegially converting oxygen into carbon dioxide. Please put your hands behind your head and step outside."

    "But-but everyone does that!"

    "That's no excuse for breaking the law, sir. Now, please step outside. Don't make me use my taser."

    --
    When someone says, "Any fool can see ..." they're usually exactly right.
  13. Editorial bias by conureman · · Score: 1

    Britannica? Not quite an error, old chap.
      BTW I liked the quaintness of my Ninth Edition.

    --
    The cost of that cleanup, of course, will be borne by taxpayers, not industry.
  14. Re:Ephedra by conureman · · Score: 1

    I imagine if you made a weak tea of Ephedra it might be good for a decongestant. I don't have any use for it, myself, but once I came across a GIANT shrub of it, (I'll not say where) and I tried chewing a twig for data purposes. I spit it out fast, it is more bitter than Drake's I.P.A. My ears were ringing for a while, and my face was numb for three or four hours. I don't know if you should isolate the constituents, they'd surely think the worst, but its just a weird-ass bush that doesn't need any care. Grow it by your Aloe vera.

    --
    The cost of that cleanup, of course, will be borne by taxpayers, not industry.