pramode_ce ([info]pramode_ce) wrote,
@ 2007-11-02 17:30:00
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The Death of the chemistry set

Check out Endangered Species - the chemistry set

Read the comments, they are interesting!

Are such chemistry kits available in India? I don't think so. I used to play with chemicals a lot - with material sourced from the medical store and from a chemicals dealer nearby who was unwilling to believe that my requirements were for purely scientific and peaceful purposes. I don't remember how I made my father accompany me to the `Vidyarthymithram' store near the municipal stand to purchase concentrated H2SO4 and HCL - but he did come with me, and the dealer reluctantly gave me the stuff. My first experiment was to find out whether sulphuric acid can *really* burn you - it was a great success - the scar from the experiment remains to this day! Experiments to create fire and boil liquids were extremely satisfying - concentrated acids, bits of cotton, potassium permanganate, small aluminium pieces etc were the usual ingredients.

The most exciting thing about Pre-Degree (plus-two) was that for the first time, I had access to a good chemistry lab. Small amounts of chemicals were smuggled on lab-days from the college lab to my `home lab' so that I could concentrate on my `research' better! I was (and still am) a big fan of Sherlock Holmes; the fact that Holmes too was a great chemist provided further motivation.

Children learn a lot during play - in fact, we can safely say that they learn only when they play. The western world has utilized this knowledge very creatively - the modern Lego robots and the Basic Stamp controllers and the old chemistry and `erector' sets all came out of this understanding that great scientists and engineers are NOT built by stupid B.Tech/BSc/Msc/PhD courses but by instilling the spirit of experimentation and discovery in students at a very young age through the medium of play.

It would be interesting to hear some of my reader's experiments in science during their school days ...

Update: Check out this link! Instituitions like Jodo Gyan are truly doing great work.


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I remember that =))
[info]gopakumar_ce
2007-11-05 08:18 pm UTC (link)
Haha .. Your own "electromagnet" experiment is still very clear in my mind :-). You were in first year of engineering in our Ernakulam house (and I was in 8th standard) and I guess I had something on electromagnets in my text book and you offered to demonstrate how it works. I still remember you puling out some 30cms of copper wire with sticky/damaged rubber insulation and winding it on the thick iron trunk of a usual "wall hole driller" and plugging the ends of the wire into the mains - and ka boom!!! Hahaha .. That was so good. Those days I was so mad about mugging up history and geography in the useless school textbooks that I remember having generally paid no attention to your efforts to imbibe a scientific temper in me, I sometimes wish I had paid more attention to you then :-) and mugged up less of history and geography!!

Interestingly a similar incident happened in my first few days in Cisco. My mentor took me to the lab saying that "let me show you how a router boots up " and pointed me to the huge (1/3rd of a normal refridgerator) Cisco 7500 router and plugged it into the socket - ka boom and some smoke. I thought thats indeed how a router boots up (joking ;-), only lator my mentor discovered that the router was just shipped from US and there was a toggle switch to change it from 120V to 220V =)))

Gopu.

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Re: I remember that =))
[info]pramode_ce
2007-11-06 08:15 am UTC (link)
It seems many people have performed this "experiment" in their search for an `electromagnet' and discovered first hand the practical implications of Ohms law with varying degrees of smoke and fire!

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