Chemistry Sets

Bought this for a nephew and it went down with a bang.

A good chemistry set and electronic experimentor set is a GREAT gift for kids interested in such things. It is amazing to think how many people's careers and lives were affected by such gifts.
When I was about 10 my older cousin gave me a telephone monitoring set with a magnetic pickup on a suction cup. It completely consumed me and I couldn't get enough electronics kits, etc. after that.
Now I'm an electrical engineer...
Good luck in your quest, I know of a couple available here in the USA but they've been "safetizied" and dumbed down. A shame.
I could get myself in a bit of trouble with my old chemistry set! Experimenting without calculated risk is boring and not productive...
David

Stuart M,
Being in London, would a visit to the science museum be worth while - not sure what they do sell, but a good place to start..?

I loved my first chemistry set but when some of the chemicals ran out I found replacements could be ordered by mail order. These supply companies sent price lists, and I soon discovered that much more entertaining chemicals could be obtained by lying about my age and occupation. This eventually resulted at the age of twelve, in me needing to be resuscitated after filling the kitchen with poison gas (recipe available on request).
No permanent harm done, but I decided to move on to playing doctors and nurses.

I remember having great fun with mine, but I did set the wooden table in the garage on fire when I spilled the methylated spirit from the Bunsen burner.

Nick

Isn't it interesting how our childhood pastimes affect our later lives? To think of the hundreds of hours I spent with Mechano and Mamod steam engines. I loved gears as if they were glittering jewels from a pirate's hoard and still do. Clocks later became the perfect artform of the fine art of toothed wheels. Though I'm still quite partial to a nice differential or gear box.

I wonder what sitting in front fo a computer monitor is doing for the young today? Preparing for a lifetime's hard graft of just staring at ever more computer screens? Or will the computer games prepare them for a meagre existence fighting over scraps in a violent world reduced to famine by a superpower war over scarce resources?

Will the essential mobile phone turn the young into perfect communicators? Will the art of précis be raised to a whole new dimension thanks to SMS?

What will their world be like?

I have a rather sad memory of an experiment with some chemicals in a friends kitchen, an oxygen producing chemical was heated in a test tube and a smouldering piece of wood was introduced into the neck of the test tube (to see it re-ignite), there was a whoosh and a lump of flaming stuff shot across the kitchen landing in the laundry basket - Oh dear - my friend went into the Pharmaceutical industry and did rather well from what I gathered on Friends Reunited

On another occasion a friend decided to make nitro glycerine - he mixed it up the ingredients in a jam jar and threw it at a wall - fortunately nothing happened. Do not know what happened to him later in life.

Another friend decided to make a largish quantity of the chemical that one painted on the floor that gives rise to explosions and shoots of flame as you walk over it. However he decided to dry the chemical out on blotting paper to give a nice thick layer - he then cut the dried chemical with a knife - he went to hospital - and had his eyes bandaged for 6 weeks - fortuntely he did not lose his eyesight.

And then there was the time we put the mains through a coil from a car to see how big a spark could be produced. - house fuse (oops should not have said that) blew.

Thanks for all your replys.

The best one I've found in the UK on the net is is this one

Will give them a call and see if they can get the C3000

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To think of the hundreds of hours I spent with Mechano and Mamod steam engines.

Are yes, my favourite toys. In fact I reckon I could still get pleasure from playing with them now if I still had them.

Ooops, sorry. I deleted my last post in case anyone thinks I'm a bomb maker.

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would a visit to the science museum be worth while - not sure what they do sell

From the science museum

http://www.sciencemuseumstore.com/mall/productpage.cfm/...ceMuseumStore/160561

Rockingdoc-
Chlorine gas? Something else? Do tell!
I'm sure you and I (as well as others on this board) would have a grand time swapping youthful "scientific" foibles over a pint or two. I for one am not incriminating myself by posting them on the WWW!
David

i once tried to convince my brother that i was rabid by mixing citric acid and baking soda in my mouth. file that under: how i learned that some chemical reactions produce heat. see also: why i couldn't taste for 2 weeks

I think further disclosure about "poison gas" recipes, (or playing doctors and nurses) is best avoided here, but I can recommend connecting up a draught beer barrel (in the Doctors' Mess) using a Nitrous Oxide cylinder in place of Carbon Dioxide. A barrel of laughs.

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or playing doctors and nurses

According to Google quite a few sites are dedicated to playing doctors and nurses, must be good fun.

nurse