31–40 of 99 posts
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I remember collecting and playing with mercury from thermometers (here in the US), probably why I can't recite PI to anything more than 6 places :)
I did that too, and used to worry about it. Then I saw a video of a guy messing around with a giant tub of liquid mercury, talking about how it's not all that dangerous in that form.
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An official lead casting kit? That's pretty neat. I just pulled cells out of discarded car batteries that I found while playing on a construction site, and melted it in bottle caps over the kitchen stove. I cannot believe my parents let me do ANY of that. The joys of growing up in the USSR.
I remember collecting and playing with mercury from thermometers (here in the US), probably why I can't recite PI to anything more than 6 places :)
Crazy stuff -- I'm still not sure how I feel about it. We've gone too far in the name of safety in some ways but in others it's needed as we learn more about the risk factors.
Regardless, my kids experience in school is profoundly different than mine -- very little hands on stuff or experiments. Hell, just going on a school field trip with your own kids requires a criminal background check...
My grandfather worked for AC Gilbert, which made the Erector Set, and American Flyer trains. I had rather complete sets growing up, and couldn't figure out why my erector set and toy trains were so much better than everyone else's. But another toy was a lead casting kit: You would melt lead in a crucible, which would then pour into a mold. http://www.girdersandgears.com/kaster.html Never had the atomic energy kit, pr…
German: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleigießen English: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molybdomancy
(He's also running for Congress.http://www.packard2012.org/ )
My grandfather worked for AC Gilbert, which made the Erector Set, and American Flyer trains. I had rather complete sets growing up, and couldn't figure out why my erector set and toy trains were so much better than everyone else's. But another toy was a lead casting kit: You would melt lead in a crucible, which would then pour into a mold. http://www.girdersandgears.com/kaster.html Never had the atomic energy kit, pr…
An official lead casting kit? That's pretty neat. I just pulled cells out of discarded car batteries that I found while playing on a construction site, and melted it in bottle caps over the kitchen stove. I cannot believe my parents let me do ANY of that. The joys of growing up in the USSR.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I did that too, and used to worry about it. Then I saw a video of a guy messing around with a giant tub of liquid mercury, talking about how it's not all that dangerous in that form.
Doesn't it evaporate fairly easily, though? And can't it also be absorbed through the skin?
This was all prominently on my mind as I broke a mercury manometer during an unofficial experiment in school and was trying to find all the little drops that exploded across the floor and hid themselves in the corners. However, I can say that it's a very efficient way to collect dust bunnies... ;-)
Lesser known fact. Most homes contain alpha radiation sources through their use in smoke detectors. http://www.epa.gov/radiation/sources/smoke_alarm.html That being said, radiological material regulations are very strict these day. Back when I was working at a lab at school, I had to go through several days of safety courses before I could even be in the same room as some very weak alpha particle sources. The work I…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radon:
Radon is responsible for the majority of the public exposure to ionizing radiation.
Apparently the first half of the 20th century was fucking awesome [1]. [1] http://www.cracked.com/article_19481_the-8-most-wildly-irres...
Edit: I "played" with most of those as a "kid" (the radioactive kit excluded, that would have been awesome.) I put those words in citation marks because I wouldn't call it play, per se, and there's obviously an age limit. But, believe it or not, "kids" (something like 12 and up) are capable of being perfectly responsible and learning proper respect for things like using tools. Heck, in many countries kids are saddled with real responsibilities at those ages.
Receive responsibility and you will learn responsibility. But if you lived the sheltered life that typical American kids seem to live, I guess you have no way of knowing that...
Gotta wonder whether my toddlers will be allowed to boil water in school when they get to 10th grade.