 |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
Brian Elliott wrote:
> And one strange thing: Back when the flints on the sides of matchboxes
> were made more substantially than they are today. Peel them off the
> sides of the matchbox. Strip as much cardboard off their backs as you
> can, to get the brown flint/phosphor patch on the thinnest paper layer
> possible. Place it face-down on a cold tin lid. Burn it. It fizzes a
> bit like a match head, but the flame is smoky and smelly. Blow off any
> ash. You find an orangeish semi-liquid condensate on the lid. Dip a
> forefinger tip in it, then rub your thumb and forefinger together.
> White smoke rises from your fingers. In the dark, it glows when you do
> this.
I'm begining quite concerned about the people I'm hanging round with... o_O
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
"Orchid XP v7" <voi### [at] dev null> wrote in message
news:471b873b$1@news.povray.org...
> Gail Shaw wrote:
>
> > Crackle powder (I think). We had great fun with that at university.
Scatterd
> > some across the cmp sci main office floor. Was a thick pile carpet. For
some
> > reason we weren't popular the next morning... *g*
>
> And I thought you were such a *good* little girl... :-0
I wasn't the brains behind this one. Besides, I didn't have access to the
chem lab.
Most of the honours class was in on the prank.
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
Michael Raiford nous apporta ses lumieres en ce 2007/10/20 23:29:
> Orchid XP v7 wrote:
>> John VanSickle wrote:
>>
>>> [1] Yes, those of you who live near The Villages in Florida may have
>>> seen this on the news.
>>
>> When I was at school, the teacher *showed* us a bottle of mercury from
>> the chemicals cupboard.
>>
>> Yes, it probably shouldn't have a disintegrated cork for a lid. Still,
>> metalic mercury is quite harmless. It's the oxide you want to worry
>> about. What that...? Oh... Yes, it does oxidize quite well in air.
>>
>> Apparently the school was "probably not supposed to keep this stuff
>> any more". Whatever. I was *far* more concerned by the bottle at the
>> back labelled "WARNING: Explosive when dry" containing an amorphus dry
>> powder...
>
> Hmmm.... No, probably not good.
>
> I was always intrigued by the metallic canister with the yellow and
> black international symbol for radiation on it, which resided in the
> physics classroom. Apparently in the later physics classes, they get to
> play with a Geiger counter.
>
>> We also got to watch the teacher play with some sodium in a big water
>> thank. And then us students got to play with some... magnisium ribbon.
>> (Trust me, soaking magnisium in water isn't nearly so interesting.
>> After an hour, a few bubbles had formed...)
>
> Our chemistry teacher used to do some after school sessions. I showed up
> to more than a few. One of which was begun by him handing everyone latex
> gloves, then handing is little chunks of a grayish, soft metal. Oh,
> yeah... and there was this big bucket of water ...
>
> Sodium is fun. XD
>
> He also filled a huge rubber balloon with a 2:1 ratio of pure hydrogen
> and oxygen. Then took a flame to it. People on the other side of the
> school campus heard the resulting bang.
>
> Strangely, he was reassigned to biology the next year ...
In high school, secondary 3, the equivalent of 9th grade, in the "Initiation aux
science physiques" class, me played with some geiger counters. We ALL got
several samples of various radioactive materials: radiun pellets, uranium
sulfide powder, radioactive iodine, radioactive cobalt, and some others... and
tested whitch one gave the highest readings.
We did water electrolisis, then played with fire on what we collected. It was
fun playing with sulfuric acid! The teacher told us never to touch that stuff
with our skin, and let us see the effect on any substance we could think of
available in the class, by ourself.
We made some black powder, and tested it.
When I finished going to that school, he was still giving that course, with the
same substances.
--
Alain
-------------------------------------------------
We did not raise armies for glory or for conquest.
Thomas Jefferson
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
Michael Raiford nous apporta ses lumieres en ce 2007/10/20 23:34:
> Michael Raiford wrote:
>
>> He also filled a huge rubber balloon with a 2:1 ratio of pure hydrogen
>> and oxygen. Then took a flame to it. People on the other side of the
>> school campus heard the resulting bang.
>
> Oh, and there was also the day we destroyed who knows how many pennies
> ... I took the opportunity to "pour" the resulting brown gas (Nitrogen
> dioxide, I think?) from one container to another.
>
> Judging from the Wikipedia article, a fume hood would have been a wise
> thing to use while doing this. :/
We, also, did just the same, but with copper ribons, whires and shavings. There
was nothing looking like a fume hood anywhere in the school! We did keep the
class' windows open.
--
Alain
-------------------------------------------------
When the bosses talk about improving productivity, they are never talking about
themselves.
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
Orchid XP v7 nous apporta ses lumieres en ce 2007/10/21 05:17:
> Michael Raiford wrote:
>
>> Oh, and there was also the day we destroyed who knows how many pennies
>> ... I took the opportunity to "pour" the resulting brown gas (Nitrogen
>> dioxide, I think?) from one container to another.
>>
>> Judging from the Wikipedia article, a fume hood would have been a wise
>> thing to use while doing this. :/
>
> Did you HAVE a fume hood?
>
> (At my school, our science lab was equiped with Bunsen burners, clamp
> stands and some glassare. And that's it.)
Bunsen burners for high temperatures and alchool lamps to just warmup things.
Pegboards and peg clamps to hold up things. Some asbestos pads and tiles to
receive hot things. Glassware, rubber and glass tubes, some we shaped ourself,
rubber and cork stoppers, with and without holes in them. Some electrical
transformers, wires, resistors and other stuff. I destroyed some transistors,
like most others...
--
Alain
-------------------------------------------------
Scientology: If shit happens, see "Dianetics", p.157.
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
Orchid XP v7 wrote:
> ...everything is far less dangerous than you thought...")
Until you spill it in your eye, of course.
>> I was always intrigued by the metallic canister with the yellow and
>> black international symbol for radiation on it, which resided in the
>> physics classroom. Apparently in the later physics classes, they get
>> to play with a Geiger counter.
> o_O
> You get radioactive stuff just to prove the counter works?!
Of course, how else do you demonstrate it? We did the old experiment
where you demonstrate the penetrating power of the three types of
radiation... paper, foil and lead etc etc. Most radioactive material
isn't that dangerous unless it gets inside you.
>> Sodium is fun. XD
And sometimes loud.
> I recall Sodium as being yellow... (At least, unless you get it. The
> resulting surface is silver, but corrodes faster than a Landrover.)
It's stored under oil to stop it oxidising. And it's soft enough to cut
with a knife or scalpel, then you get the lovely shiny surface inside...
Have you seen the video of people dropping rubidium and caesium into
water? That won't be done in the classroom anytime soon.
:)
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
Brian Elliott wrote:
> I also used to make bangs with two large bolts, one large hexagonal nut
> and a lot of match-heads. Half-screw one bolt into the nut, scrape the
> phosphorous from several matches into the well, screw in the other bolt,
> then throw it at a concrete surface or hit it end-on with a hammer.
> Four or five heads was enough to make a bang. Twenty matches was enough
> to make an air-splitting gunshot explosion. On that occasion, one bolt
> completely stripped out of the thread and went so far from the point of
> impact that we never found it.
Nice. I was always an aerosol-can-on-the-campfire person myself.
Especially good if there's still plenty of deodorant in the can - you
get a nice big fireball as well as the bang. Of course, best viewed from
behind a tree twenty feet away.
My venture scout group used to do a christmas weekend away in late
december - we'd rarely camp, but stay in the huts on this particular
small campsite and do christmas dinner etc. One year we put a large
aerosol can inside the turkey carcass and put it on the fire that we
were using to burn the rubbish. Bits of turkey bone were landing a
quarter of a mile away!
:D
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
> Nice. I was always an aerosol-can-on-the-campfire person myself.
> Especially good if there's still plenty of deodorant in the can - you get
> a nice big fireball as well as the bang. Of course, best viewed from
> behind a tree twenty feet away.
The real bummer is when it doesn't go off, and you're stuck behind a tree
for 10 minutes...
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
scott wrote:
>> Nice. I was always an aerosol-can-on-the-campfire person myself.
>> Especially good if there's still plenty of deodorant in the can - you
>> get a nice big fireball as well as the bang. Of course, best viewed
>> from behind a tree twenty feet away.
>
> The real bummer is when it doesn't go off, and you're stuck behind a
> tree for 10 minutes...
Yes, we'd have a couple of those from time to time. If something in the
fire collapses and the can rolls out... and sometimes the valve in the
top melts and the pressure releases in a continuous stream. There was
usually somebody drunk enough to approach the fire from behind a large
coat or something and investigate.
This was eventually solved by simply using really bloody big hot fires
to guarantee a clean detonation. (!)
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
Alain wrote:
> Orchid XP v7 nous apporta ses lumieres en ce 2007/10/21 05:17:
>> Did you HAVE a fume hood?
>>
>> (At my school, our science lab was equiped with Bunsen burners, clamp
>> stands and some glassare. And that's it.)
> Bunsen burners for high temperatures and alchool lamps to just warmup
> things. Pegboards and peg clamps to hold up things. Some asbestos pads
> and tiles to receive hot things. Glassware, rubber and glass tubes, some
> we shaped ourself, rubber and cork stoppers, with and without holes in
> them. Some electrical transformers, wires, resistors and other stuff. I
> destroyed some transistors, like most others...
Yeah, I think our matts might have been asbestos too...
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
