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In 1951 there was a children's U-238 Atomic Energy Lab playset for $50

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Re: In 1951 there was a children's U-238 Atomic Energy Lab playset for $50

#81

Post by count »

choros12 wrote: post #75
jackpirate wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, but you're wrong. 50 dollars in 1950 would be worth $447.81 in 2010, roughly ten times moer. The dolar value of the toy increased roughly 100 times. Therefore, the true value of the toy increased 100/10 = 10 times. The price of gold is irrelevant. All you showed is that gold would have been a better investment.

I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with you. Calling gold an investment is akin to calling USD or Swiss Franc an investment. It might be but its first and most important function is this of money. Think store of value and not profit. Currently, an ounce of gold buys you a nice suit in New York. Two hundred years ago 1 ounce of gold was enough to buy a nice suit in London. And 2,000 years ago 1 ounce of gold was enough…

Gold isn't money, and it's not a store of value, any more than any other tangible asset is.

I don't know ANY STORE ANYWHERE that takes gold as payment. That means it's not money. You can pawn it or sell it, which exchanges gold for actual money, which you can then use as payment.

Re: In 1951 there was a children's U-238 Atomic Energy Lab playset for $50

#82

Post by bane »

powertower wrote: post #44
pavel_lishin wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

When I was growing up in the former USSR, we used to sometimes enter the decommissioned parts of a nuclear plant / research station. One day we found what was a deuterium/water solution ("heavy water") in a storage locker and took several gulps of it to prove something stupid. Beat that!

Did it taste like anything?

Re: In 1951 there was a children's U-238 Atomic Energy Lab playset for $50

#83

Post by ams6110 »

ori_b wrote: post #45
pavel_lishin wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't it evaporate fairly easily, though? And can't it also be absorbed through the skin?

As far as I remember, mercury isn't the best thing for you, but it's not as bad as people make out. It takes a fair amount of exposure to do anything too terrible. It's the compounds that become very nasty (eg, dimethylmercury).

Some people have an allergic-like reaction to it.

Re: In 1951 there was a children's U-238 Atomic Energy Lab playset for $50

#84

Post by ams6110 »

msisk6 wrote: post #32
bigohms wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 :)

Back in the early 80s at high school in chemistry class we had a beaker full of mercury we'd float nuts and bolts on. The teacher would just let us grab 'em out of the beaker with our bare hands. 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 prof…

We used to steal stuff from the chemistry storeroom and make bombs. Today that'd get you a visit from the DHS and probably onto some kind of terror watch list.

Re: In 1951 there was a children's U-238 Atomic Energy Lab playset for $50

#85

Post by ams6110 »

davidcuddeback wrote: post #23
jgrahamc wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm from the second half and had some pretty cool chemistry sets as a child. I've noticed recently that all the chemistry sets are really rubbish now. Where's my strip to magnesium to set fire to?

Before 9/11, my little sister built a cloud chamber for the science fair. This required using a small vile of Uranium, which my dad was able to obtain for her from a nearby university. This didn't require any extraordinary connections or security clearance. I think he just phoned up a professor and drove to the university to meet him. This was probably 2000 or 2001. I suspect this wouldn't be possible now, after 9/11…

If you are really determined, you can refine it yourself.

http://carlwillis.wordpress.com/2008/02/20/uranium-chemistry...

Re: In 1951 there was a children's U-238 Atomic Energy Lab playset for $50

#86

Post by jonmrodriguez »

dquigley wrote: post #76
msisk6 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Back in the early 80s at high school in chemistry class we had a beaker full of mercury we'd float nuts and bolts on. The teacher would just let us grab 'em out of the beaker with our bare hands. 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 prof…

Maybe most high schools have gotten that way, but I had a very different experience. Made some chemical mixture in Chemistry that would go up in a puff if it was bumped. In my high school engineering classes, we stripped the motor out of a CNC router, attached a custom built head on it and then connected that router's computer to another control box we used to control two robotic arms, a conveyor belt, and a couple o…

Your experience was extremely expensive and therefore not scalable to a nation where many highschools can barely afford teachers, sadly.

In the 1950's, teacher labor was subsidized by the fact that it was one of the few intellectual jobs available to gifted females.

Re: In 1951 there was a children's U-238 Atomic Energy Lab playset for $50

#87

Post by cynwoody »

powertower wrote: post #44
pavel_lishin wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

When I was growing up in the former USSR, we used to sometimes enter the decommissioned parts of a nuclear plant / research station. One day we found what was a deuterium/water solution ("heavy water") in a storage locker and took several gulps of it to prove something stupid. Beat that!

http://lana-sator.livejournal.com/160176.html#cutid1

Re: In 1951 there was a children's U-238 Atomic Energy Lab playset for $50

#88

Post by cynwoody »

bigohms wrote: post #20
pavel_lishin wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 :)

But did you ever do a shoe-store fluoroscope?

Re: In 1951 there was a children's U-238 Atomic Energy Lab playset for $50

#89

Post by Newgy »

mikeash wrote: post #30
davidcuddeback wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before 9/11, my little sister built a cloud chamber for the science fair. This required using a small vile of Uranium, which my dad was able to obtain for her from a nearby university. This didn't require any extraordinary connections or security clearance. I think he just phoned up a professor and drove to the university to meet him. This was probably 2000 or 2001. I suspect this wouldn't be possible now, after 9/11…

You can buy uranium ore off Amazon. I'm not sure if it's the right stuff for a cloud chamber, but it looks like it: http://www.amazon.com/Images-SI-Inc-Uranium-Ore/dp/B000796XX...

The reviews on this are hilarious.

Re: In 1951 there was a children's U-238 Atomic Energy Lab playset for $50

#90

Post by larholm »

slavak wrote: post #7

Apparently the first half of the 20th century was fucking awesome [1]. [1] http://www.cracked.com/article_19481_the-8-most-wildly-irres...

Oh please, here in Denmark we blew glass on a school trip in 6th grade after a 5 minute introduction.
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