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How Regulations Hamper Chemical Hobbyists
An anonymous reader writes "Chemical & Engineering News just ran this story that relates how government regulations create a terribly restrictive atmosphere for people who do chemistry as a hobby. (A related story was previously posted.)" The article gives some examples of why hamfisted regulations are harmful even to those who aren't doing the chemistry themselves: "Hobby chemists will tell you that home labs have been the source of some of chemistry's greatest contributions. Charles Goodyear figured out how to vulcanize rubber with the same stove that his wife used to bake the family's bread. Charles Martin Hall discovered the economical electrochemical process for refining aluminum from its ore in a woodshed laboratory near his family home. A plaque outside Sir William Henry Perkin's Cable Street residence in London notes that the chemist 'discovered the first aniline dyestuff, March 1856, while working in his home laboratory on this site and went on to found science-based industry.'"
Solution: give controlled access to chemicals to irresponsible people in a way that ensures no other people are harmed. No more irresponsible people => problem solved.
Extreme Programming - Redundant Array of Inexpensive Developers
I think recreational chemical hobbyist is the term you are looking for.
No Nyarlathotep, No Chaos
Know Nyarlathotep, Know Chaos
>and I feel bad for him since even radio shack doesn't carry what it used to.
It's the same where I live ( the UK )
Radio shack are no longer interested in supplying components, just crap white goods. I can understand why though; whats the profit margin on a resistor? And have you ever stood in line behind the electronics buff who is buying 20 components, and takes half an hour?
Personally, I think they should install vending machines in Radio Shack for components. I might start using them again if they did!
Open Source Drum Kit, LPLC deve board - mjhdesigns.com
Most recently, a man fooling around with a home chemistry set discovered that gold flakes of a certain size heat up in the presence of low energy microwaves. Yes all metals do this, but the gold particles heated up at such a low energy that you could swallow the gold and get your body exposed to microwaves that do no significant damage except to the parts of your body that are touching the gold. As it was already known that tumors tend to accumulate heavy metals, it created a cancer treatment.
The original discovery was done within the last 10 years, no 20, and was done at someone's home, not in a lab.
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have been done by hobbyists, i humbly submit this isn't possible anymore. all of the historical advances made by hobbyists were done decades ago, involving simple concepts. all advances today are not simple, but require the support of an advanced facility, simply because all of the fundamental, simple advances in chemistry have already been scoured
I disagree. I would argue that closet chemists are not advancing chemical theory and are more likely looking at various practical applications. This simply takes a different perspective and removing ones self from corporate pressures (where something might not be seen as profitable) might provide that.
similar to hobbyist game makers of just 20, 30 years ago, and how there is no way they could compete on the same footing with modern mainline game studios and the high end graphical renderings they crank out
Yet games like Portal and Crayon Physics help change the direction of the industry.
Nonsense. The problem is that drug laws and enforcement (particulary in the US) are insanely draconian. Prohibition doesn't work; I think we have enough empirical evidence of that now. Legalise currently illegal drugs and we can actually start tackling problem drug use in a sensible way.
"Physics is to math as sex is to masturbation." -R. Feynman
I managed a Radio Shack store, 01-896*, in Florida.
Radio Shack stopped carrying most things due to liability. They even got sued for a kid coming in, getting a reed switch, and using it to kill his parents (true story).
From that point on, we where TOLD not to answer any questions, since answering a question can lead to legal actions against both you and the store (it's that entire helping the bad guy thing).
There are still some good kits available on the internet. Check out Google, it's your friend.
--Toll_Free
http://yarchive.net/explosives/nitrates.html
Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
And yes, almost anyone can drive, own a gun, or become a televangelist.
All of those things do more harm to people and society in the hands of irresponsible people than a few chemicals.
When I was in High School, I set up a full lab, with the full array of chemicals like Sulfuric Acid, Hydrazine, Ethyl Acetoacetate etc etc. I learned a tremendous amount and made some interesting chemicals, but in hindsight I have serious reservations:
1) Most people will have a very hard time coping with hazardous waste in a proper fashion, and the temptation to cut corners will be irresistible.
2) If you look at the current state of chemical research, you'll see that the home hobbyist *HAS NO CHANCE* of keeping pace with a modern research lab. Palladium catalysts? Glove Boxes? Preparative Chromatography? NMR? Organometallic chemistry? Suzuki couplings? If you want to advance the state of the art and make meaningful contributions you need heavy tools nowadays. Yes, you might find something interesting, but most all of the easy chemicals have been made.
3) The risk of fire, explosion and toxic contamination is very real. Someone trying to distill a liter of THF in their garage is asking for trouble, and if my neighbor was doing this I would be very concerned.
If someone wants to spend $600,000 and lease space in an industrial park, more power to 'em, but it doesn't sound like a hobby at that point.
I eventually packed everything up and took it to a 'hazardous material collection day' run by the local fire department. They were quite surprised, and it all went off to a HazMat landfill.
You could always, you know, stop being such a big pussy.
Seriously? Pad Thai? Try eating Pad Kra Pow (Basil Chicken with chiles), and ask for it "Thai Spicy." If you've ordered in a restaurant where much of the clientele is asian, you're in for a wild ride.
That's what this site does
http://www.unitednuclear.com/
I love the "Looking for some Uranium" gif.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
I would recommend that serious hobbyist look for another country.
The US has been anti-technology for the better part of 40 years. The education in science and math has become abysmal, there are a few good schools, but not enough. And most of those that graduate from College are rewarded poorly.
I would like to be proven wrong, but point me to one major US technical company that could survive with just their scientist and engineers of US citizenship.
I'm afraid that the US is heading to an age where we are going to be a 3rd world country or what we would consider a 3rd world country. Our only chance of not going in this direction was by increased science and technology (making better mousetraps). But we farmed this out to other countries, who saw these jobs as truly lucrative. So now we are dependent on foreign money, foreign technology, and foreign manufacturing.
"Radio Shack stopped carrying most things due to liability. They even got sued for a kid coming in, getting a reed switch, and using it to kill his parents (true story)."
A) [citation needed]
B) Radio Shack carries reed switches. I bought one last week.
They don't carry the variety of basic components they used to, because consumer gadgets are more profitable; but they carry some. So I think your liability story is BS.
The old saying "the more you know, the less that you know that you know" doesn't apply to everyone, like this guy:
http://blogs.kansascity.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/08/03/boyscout.jpg
Sure, David Hahn was delving into radioactivity, but same principals apply to goofballs playing with chemistry.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,292111,00.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn
Unfortunately, it's idiots like this guy that causes all sorts of overly protective legislation that keeps us from having real chemistry sets.
Total prevention is impossible. Drug users will always exist. However, Just in the interest of saving society as a whole money, would it be better to spend millions/billions on a police force and jails to make the drug illegal or spend the money required to make the drug available for free in a monitored situation, removing the need to comit a crime to obtain the drug?
Spelling and Grammar errors have been added to this post for your enjoyment
I make soap, partially for fun and partially due to allergies. I had a neighbor say "You're allowed to do that?" with total disbelief. I also make bread (not on the same day), and had the same reaction.
I get the same reaction -- I homebrew my own beer and mead. It's fun, and much cheaper to make yourself if you like specialty or hoppy beers. (If you like Bud Miller Coors, don't bother, you can't compete on those economics).
I've been asked, if everyone brewed their own beer, "wouldn't that hurt American jobs"?
I'm convinced that 90% of America is incapable of critical thinking, and if you could get them to watch movies like Brazil or Dr. Strangelove or The Mist.. they would NOT get the irony. Another 5% would get it but pretend otherwise, knowing it would be dangerous to irritate a mob. I'm also convinced this explains the popularity of Fox News: catering to the lowest denominator... at least until the economic shit hit the fan.
Actually, for that reason, it's even more important that mind-altering drugs be legal. If they can prevent you from taking certain mind-altering drugs, they can prevent you from having certain thoughts. I'm sure you appreciate why freedom of thought is an important principle. Biochemical freedom therefore follows directly from that principle.
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