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The 70s really were another country - see also: chemistry sets. These are pale and anodyne things now with a mere handful of bland household-level chemicals - a

The 70s really were another country - see also: chemistry sets. These are pale and anodyne things now with a mere handful of bland household-level chemicals - assuming you can even find one in a toy shop at all. But as a lad these were both readily available and full of dozens of intriguing substances that would send a modern health and safety wonk into apoplexy. Who among us did not incinerate all of the supplied magnesium in a short series of pyrotechnic orgies? Merit was the go-to brand in the UK, but I also had a set from an American company that contained, among other exotica, potassium ferrocyanide. This is decidedly non-lethal but the very name never failed to send a poisoner's frisson through my teenage brain.

WalterBright 4y ago
The German Kosmos sets were the best.
- MrBuddyCasino 4y ago
  The really old ones from the 50s and 60s were magic, and they still made passable ones into the 90s. But there is nothing like that anymore, it simply doesn't exist. I suspect that market is now tinkering with Raspberry Pis?
euroderf 4y ago
Who among us lit up the chunk of sulphur and (out of innocent curiosity) took a good snork off it, realizing too late that it was a stupid thing to do ? I sure did. Tinkering with chemistry also motivated me to look for sources of hydrochloric and sulphuric acids, but in New York state the guy at the pharmacy said I needed parental permission. Wasn't gonna happen.
- greenbit 4y ago
  Been there, done that, burned holes in the T-shirt too.
- denton-scratch 4y ago
  Hydrochloric acid: My hardware store sells 30% HCl as Spirits Of Salts, for removing limescale from toilet bowls. It's effective, unlike toilet bleach. It's nasty stuff, and if your seat-hinges are metallic, you risk corrosion. And remember to flush before you crap. Sulphuric acid: No, hardware stores don't sell that here. You can get it from car batteries, and builders use the strong stuff for clearing drains. I have no idea how I could legally buy fuming sulphuric acid. Nitric acid: Even less. Fuming nitric and sulphuric acid mixed gives you nitrating acid, which in turn is the gateway to nitrocellulose (and I suppose nitroglycerine), fulminate of mercury, and ghod knows what. It's just as well that these latter two acids are restricted; if they weren't, I'm quite sure I'd have tried to make guncotton, and probably blown myself up.
  - euroderf 4y ago
    Two words: ice bath.
  - deepspace 4y ago
    I had the same idea when I was in school, and wrote a chemical company I found in the yellow pages for a price list and order form for Sulphuric and Nitric Acid. The happily provided both... with a minimum order quantity of around 250 gallons.
  - nahkoots 4y ago
    Where do you live? If you're in the US, check if you live near an Ace hardware store; mine sells gallon jugs of 90% sulfuric acid for something in the range of $25. Look for Rooto brand drain cleaner, and if it doesn't say on the side of the container, you'll want the one that feels like it's full of heavy viscous liquid. And Duda Diesel sells a liter of 67.2% nitric acid for $60.43, or $101.69 for 2.5 (plus shipping ofc).
- jacquesm 4y ago
  I ended up with a fair bit of unusable glassware after a week or two. Fortunately we had a whole kitchen full of stuff. Bad idea. Lots of pocket money got docked.
- djmips 4y ago
  You found out why they called it brimstone! I did exactly what you did as a kid and I wondered if it didn't permanently damage my lungs...
greenbit 4y ago
Those sure were different times. I recall in the mid 1970s, as a kid no less, being able to go into a pharmacy and buy sulfur or KNO3 w/o any trouble at all. However it wasn't more than a couple years later, when a request for phosphorus was met with an icy "do I need to call your mother" stare, that my budding career as a chemist came to an end. Besides, the Radio Shack across the street had this computer set up for customers to play with..
- denton-scratch 4y ago
  Sulphur? My local hardware store sells flours of sulphur for gardeners. It's used for acidulating soil, and for combatting some kinds of fungus. I don't know why anyone would want to regulate the sale of elemental sulphur; it's not toxic, caustic or explosive. It's less flammable than a piece of wood.
  - chihuahua 4y ago
    GP mentions S and HNO3 in the same sentence. Those 2 combined with charcoal results in black powder.
    - pclmulqdq 4y ago
      You can use household fertilizer to make ETN, which is much more dangerous. There should be no problem with black powder.
    - denton-scratch 4y ago
      So regulate charcoal. And black powder requires saltpetre, and doesn't require nitric acid. You can make saltpetre from piss, but I don't know how. And is black powder so scary? You can get it out of firecrackers, which are sold (here) without ID, although I guess you might have to prove your age to buy fireworks. It doesn't detonate, so it can't be used to prime a high-explosive like ammonium nitrate fertilizer.
      - tragomaskhalos 4y ago
anthk 4y ago
In early 90's, in Spain, a kid was seriously injured with some toy chemistry kit because of some bad mix. [Spanish] https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/vigo/2014/12/21/jugando-breaking-bad/0003_201412V21C8991.htm https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/vigo/2014/12/21/jugand...
Finnucane 4y ago
I had an Edmund Scientific cloud chamber kit that came with radium and uranium ore powder in a plastic bag. I also recall a cousin had one of these Cox planes and almost gave me a haircut with it one day.
jmspring 4y ago
I remember, when young, I would always find these old chemistry sets for sale at garage sales around my grandmother's neighborhood. Parents didn't really care, so long as you didn't destroy / damage anything!
zenon 4y ago
My friend had a chemistry set that included a lead bar. We liked to chew on it -- imagine, a metal soft enough that you could easily dent it with your teeth!
cafard 4y ago
Really? I remember us having problems buying magnesium ribbon back then. A friend got some from our chemistry teacher with a bogus reason. Unfortunately, the thermite mixture wasn't done right--pebbles rather than powder--and it didn't get going.

WalterBright 4y ago

The German Kosmos sets were the best.

MrBuddyCasino 4y ago
The really old ones from the 50s and 60s were magic, and they still made passable ones into the 90s. But there is nothing like that anymore, it simply doesn't exist. I suspect that market is now tinkering with Raspberry Pis?

euroderf 4y ago

Who among us lit up the chunk of sulphur and (out of innocent curiosity) took a good snork off it, realizing too late that it was a stupid thing to do ? I sure did. Tinkering with chemistry also motivated me to look for sources of hydrochloric and sulphuric acids, but in New York state the guy at the pharmacy said I needed parental permission. Wasn't gonna happen.

greenbit 4y ago
Been there, done that, burned holes in the T-shirt too.
denton-scratch 4y ago
Hydrochloric acid: My hardware store sells 30% HCl as Spirits Of Salts, for removing limescale from toilet bowls. It's effective, unlike toilet bleach. It's nasty stuff, and if your seat-hinges are metallic, you risk corrosion. And remember to flush before you crap. Sulphuric acid: No, hardware stores don't sell that here. You can get it from car batteries, and builders use the strong stuff for clearing drains. I have no idea how I could legally buy fuming sulphuric acid. Nitric acid: Even less. Fuming nitric and sulphuric acid mixed gives you nitrating acid, which in turn is the gateway to nitrocellulose (and I suppose nitroglycerine), fulminate of mercury, and ghod knows what. It's just as well that these latter two acids are restricted; if they weren't, I'm quite sure I'd have tried to make guncotton, and probably blown myself up.
- euroderf 4y ago
  Two words: ice bath.
- deepspace 4y ago
  I had the same idea when I was in school, and wrote a chemical company I found in the yellow pages for a price list and order form for Sulphuric and Nitric Acid. The happily provided both... with a minimum order quantity of around 250 gallons.
- nahkoots 4y ago
  Where do you live? If you're in the US, check if you live near an Ace hardware store; mine sells gallon jugs of 90% sulfuric acid for something in the range of $25. Look for Rooto brand drain cleaner, and if it doesn't say on the side of the container, you'll want the one that feels like it's full of heavy viscous liquid. And Duda Diesel sells a liter of 67.2% nitric acid for $60.43, or $101.69 for 2.5 (plus shipping ofc).
jacquesm 4y ago
I ended up with a fair bit of unusable glassware after a week or two. Fortunately we had a whole kitchen full of stuff. Bad idea. Lots of pocket money got docked.
djmips 4y ago
You found out why they called it brimstone! I did exactly what you did as a kid and I wondered if it didn't permanently damage my lungs...

greenbit 4y ago

Those sure were different times. I recall in the mid 1970s, as a kid no less, being able to go into a pharmacy and buy sulfur or KNO3 w/o any trouble at all. However it wasn't more than a couple years later, when a request for phosphorus was met with an icy "do I need to call your mother" stare, that my budding career as a chemist came to an end. Besides, the Radio Shack across the street had this computer set up for customers to play with..

denton-scratch 4y ago
Sulphur? My local hardware store sells flours of sulphur for gardeners. It's used for acidulating soil, and for combatting some kinds of fungus. I don't know why anyone would want to regulate the sale of elemental sulphur; it's not toxic, caustic or explosive. It's less flammable than a piece of wood.
- chihuahua 4y ago
  GP mentions S and HNO3 in the same sentence. Those 2 combined with charcoal results in black powder.
  - pclmulqdq 4y ago
    You can use household fertilizer to make ETN, which is much more dangerous. There should be no problem with black powder.
  - denton-scratch 4y ago
    So regulate charcoal. And black powder requires saltpetre, and doesn't require nitric acid. You can make saltpetre from piss, but I don't know how. And is black powder so scary? You can get it out of firecrackers, which are sold (here) without ID, although I guess you might have to prove your age to buy fireworks. It doesn't detonate, so it can't be used to prime a high-explosive like ammonium nitrate fertilizer.
    - tragomaskhalos 4y ago

anthk 4y ago

In early 90's, in Spain, a kid was seriously injured with some toy chemistry kit because of some bad mix. [Spanish] https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/vigo/2014/12/21/jugando-breaking-bad/0003_201412V21C8991.htm https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/vigo/2014/12/21/jugand...

Finnucane 4y ago

I had an Edmund Scientific cloud chamber kit that came with radium and uranium ore powder in a plastic bag. I also recall a cousin had one of these Cox planes and almost gave me a haircut with it one day.

jmspring 4y ago

I remember, when young, I would always find these old chemistry sets for sale at garage sales around my grandmother's neighborhood. Parents didn't really care, so long as you didn't destroy / damage anything!

zenon 4y ago

My friend had a chemistry set that included a lead bar. We liked to chew on it -- imagine, a metal soft enough that you could easily dent it with your teeth!

cafard 4y ago

Really? I remember us having problems buying magnesium ribbon back then. A friend got some from our chemistry teacher with a bogus reason. Unfortunately, the thermite mixture wasn't done right--pebbles rather than powder--and it didn't get going.