The dream of every red blooded American kid was to discover some chemistry set concoction that would EXPLODE. That was certainly my quest and I threw all the stuff under the kitchen sink into the mix as well. Nothing worked, but burning sulfur poured over model airplanes was pretty neat.
a man after my own heart ;-) Disassembling fireworks and repackaging the contents proved to be a more efficient process ;-)
We liked to build model cars, then blow them up with firecrackers. Actually, we liked to blow up anything with firecrackers but cars were especially fun. And I’m a girl!
“... some chemistry set concoction that would explode”.
I remember when my son was about four. I had shown him the neat trick of mixing baking soda and vinegar. So, Mr. Scientist had taken a gallon of vinegar and the BIG BOX of baking soda I had purchased at Costco. He emptied the baking soda and then the vinegar into the toilet. He then RAN... picking them up and putting them down in quick steps. I glanced around the corner to see FOAM emerging from the powder room. Long story short.. the toilet in its entirety had never been cleaner.
Everything was there, if you knew where to look!
We did it.
Made black powder, and were working toward Nitroglycerin when we figured out some of the acids we needed we not available to teenagers (legally).
I melted elemental sulfur in one of my mom’s silver spoons. The silver sulfide tarnish never came off.
“The dream of every red blooded American kid was to discover some chemistry set concoction that would EXPLODE. That was certainly my quest and I threw all the stuff under the kitchen sink into the mix as well. Nothing worked, but burning sulfur poured over model airplanes was pretty neat.”
I never had a chemistry set but I used to go to the drug store and buy everything I needed to make black powder for my rockets,small bombs, and firecrackers.
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,