We got to play with Gilbert chemistry sets too. If we had possession of some of those chemicals today, we'd probably be on the terrorist watch list.
We got to play with Gilbert chemistry sets too. If we had possession of some of those chemicals today, we'd probably be on the terrorist watch list.
We were definitely mini-terrorists back then. Dad worked for Allied Chemical, so he was always refilling my supplies and bringing home new ones for me to try (with strict supervision). Amazing that we didn't blow-up the entire house. Heh.
I never had a chem set. No way, no how my parents would’ve ever trusted me with one!!!
For sure. I remember when I was 13 my Mom had to go to the drugstore with me to sign for my supply of hydrochloric and sulfuric acid. But the guys at the hardware store thought nothing of selling us chunks of carbide for our carbide cannons.
Those were the days when people could still buy dynamite, caps and fuse at the hardware store. I don't recall a single terrorist among them. The explosives were used for removing tree stumps, breaking up ice jams in canals, splitting boulders for removal, etc. Now and then some damn fool would injure or kill himself playing with dynamite caps but that's Natural Selection at work.
I had one of those, too, when I was about 11. The "experiments" in the book were boring, So I mixed everything together to see what would happen. All I got was a brown-grey mess that didn't do a thing - until I lit it on fire. Then it burned like hell and gave off an incredible stench.
I was happy.