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Chemistry set Kickstarter looks to recapture the wonder of days gone by
Geek.com ^ | Nov 14, 2013 | Graham Templeton

Posted on 11/23/2013 8:47:19 AM PST by AdmSmith

The phrase “chemistry set” is embedded in the collective unconscious, but try to actually call one to mind. What does a chemistry set look like? What does it include? What can you do with it? If you’re anything close to being a millennial, you probably have only vague answers to these questions. If you’re a little older, however, you probably remember one of the classic sets that is responsible for our powerful (if nonspecific) connection to the concept of a chemistry set. Chief among these, in many people’s eyes, is the Gilbert Chemistry Set, which inspired untold numbers of young people to study chemistry.

Now a new Kickstarter wants to help adults and children alike recapture an excitement that most of them have never actually known. Research chemist John Kuhns has been making wood-box chemistry sets for years, mostly as gifts and small sales direct to friends and family, but now he wants to scale up the operation and bring the tools of real chemists back to the everyday home.

His Heirloom Chemistry Set is certainly focused on nostalgia more heavily than on affordability; with a box of birch including mahogany inlays, the set is hardly cheap, and is clearly meant to be kept visible within the house. This is half chemistry set, half personal statement.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Extended News; Technical
KEYWORDS: chemistry; science; technology
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To: AdmSmith

If I were ten years old again, I’d be begging for a set like this. :’)


61 posted on 11/23/2013 11:00:08 AM PST by SunkenCiv (http://www.freerepublic.com/~mestamachine/)
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To: AdmSmith
The infamous Gilbert Atom Bomb puzzle. The "bombs" were little capsules, weighted at one end. The goal was to get both bombs to fit into holes marked Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Cool then, not PC now.


62 posted on 11/23/2013 11:01:08 AM PST by Fresh Wind (The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away.)
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To: Rebelbase

I had the same result with a newly-mixed batch of black powder. Hadn’t ground the charcoal well enough, and a spark jumped from the test pile to the batch pile. Did it in the feed room of our chicken house; I exited quickly through the window...


63 posted on 11/23/2013 11:04:38 AM PST by TXnMA ("Allah": Satan's current alias... "Barack": Allah's current ally...)
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To: centurion316

I wasn’t brave enough to actually concoct something that would explode, but my friends and I DID make something that emitted giant clouds of purple smoke into our kitchen.

God only knows what it was...I wish I could remember what we put into it; I’m sure some Chemistry FReeper could tell me what we made.

Regards,


64 posted on 11/23/2013 11:12:51 AM PST by VermiciousKnid (Sic narro nos totus!)
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To: All
Since we can't post stuff from The Onion here on FR, I suspect most everyone on this thread would enjoy searching their archives for an article titled:

"Science Guy Bill Nye Killed In Massive Vinegar/Baking-Soda Explosion"

Check it out - it's quite entertaining.

65 posted on 11/23/2013 11:22:31 AM PST by Charles Martel (Endeavor to persevere...)
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To: ToastedHead

A little older. The sets now make a particular thing, I don’t care for that.


66 posted on 11/23/2013 11:23:12 AM PST by Ray76
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To: EEGator

Then there is

CUAAUGU


67 posted on 11/23/2013 11:25:13 AM PST by PeteB570 ( Islam is the sea in which the Terrorist Shark swims. The deeper the sea the larger the shark.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Thanks so much for that link.

Can’t thank you enough.


68 posted on 11/23/2013 11:32:37 AM PST by ifinnegan
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To: PeteB570

Didn’t think I’d see any mRNA base pairing on FR today. :)


69 posted on 11/23/2013 11:37:23 AM PST by EEGator
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To: PeteB570

CUAAUGU is backwards.

5’-GATTACA-3’

3’-CUAAUGU-5’


70 posted on 11/23/2013 11:46:03 AM PST by ifinnegan
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To: BerryDingle

that’s just wicked...


71 posted on 11/23/2013 11:48:15 AM PST by HiTech RedNeck (The Lion of Judah will roar again if you give him a big hug and a cheer and mean it. See my page.)
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To: Charles Martel

Here’s a link, I think links are still OK

http://www.theonion.com/articles/science-guy-bill-nye-killed-in-massive-vinegarbaki,288/


72 posted on 11/23/2013 11:49:57 AM PST by HiTech RedNeck (The Lion of Judah will roar again if you give him a big hug and a cheer and mean it. See my page.)
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To: Mr Ramsbotham
Back in my day the real future chemists were studying math.

Late bloomers huh?

Got my big Gilbert set while in the third grade in the fifties, we didn't know about mathematics, just arithmetic. But our reading skills were just fine. Enough to follow the cook book instructions for starters.

Grew some impressive strings of copper sulfate crystals, made gunpowder , a kind of sparkler, and twisted paper fuses, stink bombs. But exploring the uncharted regions of the Gilbert Chemistry set lead to some vile smelling dark compounds cooked up in the provided test tubes using the little alcohol lamp. The resultant slag defied all cleaning and scraping efforts.

I did discover that a certain combination of chemicals applied as a paste to a stainless steel butter knife and heated red hot over a gas burner resulted in a blue black finish which I found rather pleasing. A good thing, as I was forced to contemplate my discovery at every meal for a month, while having to use the back of a teaspoon to spread butter.

Pity that I didn't write down the mix proportions as decades later I spied the same finish on commercial door hardware.

Good fun for a long time.

73 posted on 11/23/2013 11:54:46 AM PST by Covenantor ("Men are ruled...by liars who refuse them news, and by fools who cannot govern." Chesterton)
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To: ifinnegan
It's a great book, isn't it?

I am a chemist, and I wish I had that book when I was a kid.

74 posted on 11/23/2013 12:00:27 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (Who knew that one day professional wrestling would be less fake than professional journalism?)
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To: AdmSmith; All
The Atomic Boy Scout
75 posted on 11/23/2013 12:20:26 PM PST by gura (If Allah is so great, why does he need fat sexually confused fanboys to do his dirty work? -iowahawk)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Yes. It should be fun over this Thanksgiving gathering.

I am a “biochemist without a license”.

Growing up I had nothing like this or these chemistry sets.


76 posted on 11/23/2013 12:46:38 PM PST by ifinnegan
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To: AdmSmith

Any how, this is a great thread, but as far as this Kick Starter campaign, naw.

You know the motivation of anyone calling a science hobby store the HMS Beagle.


77 posted on 11/23/2013 2:20:16 PM PST by ifinnegan
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To: BerryDingle

Impressively twisted.
Definitely dry.


78 posted on 11/23/2013 4:23:46 PM PST by Carry_Okie ("Single payer" is Medicaid for all; they'll pull the sheet over your head, and then take your house.)
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To: Iron Munro

I want you to know that you changed a life yet to come with that post. I’m sending that book to my daughter, who aspires to be an awesome mom. Thank you.


79 posted on 11/23/2013 4:35:36 PM PST by Carry_Okie ("Single payer" is Medicaid for all; they'll pull the sheet over your head, and then take your house.)
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To: ToastedHead; Ray76
I think I had the erector set. Is ‘76 your model year?

I had an erector set. Her name was Candace, and she had quite a set!

80 posted on 11/23/2013 4:40:28 PM PST by WVKayaker ("Because nothing says "rugged individualism" like heavy-handed big government.../sarc" -Sarah Palin)
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