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Heirloom Chemistry Set
- aroch 13y agoOh man, this is rather tempting.
- FrankenPC 13y agoI am SO tempted...
- solarmist 13y agoI took the plunge. This is a once in a lifetime chance for me. I've never seen a chemistry set I've actually been interested in before now (that's in production).
- polynomial 13y agoEspecially the Baltic plywood box set, however the $900 Kickstarter pledge for that seems a bit steep.
- fr0sty 13y agoHere is a link to the text of the manual that came with the original sets (warning: Comic Sans): http://science-notebook.com/gilb-chem01.html http://science-notebook.com/gilb-chem01.html EDIT: Found a PDF as well: http://keeline.com/chem/1936-Gilbert_Chemistry_Outfit_Manual_M1706.pdf http://keeline.com/chem/1936-Gilbert_Chemistry_Outfit_Manual...
- maxmcd 13y agoThe full list of chemicals can be found in the final section of that PDF, excluding the 8 additional mentioned in the Kickstarter.
- e12e 13y agoAh, good. Sulphur, Charcoal and Potassium Nitrate -- the essentials!
- siculars 13y ago"Chemistry for Boys" pg. 3. Old school indeed.
- gyom 13y agoPage 46 reads : "It was not until the last World War that poisonous gases were demonstrated to be an important factor in modern military science." It feels strange to be reading something like that in 2013.
- solarmist 13y agoThis is the chemistry set I've always wished I could find. Growing up I had a huge interest in chemistry, but never got a chance to play with it at all.
- bradleyjg 13y agoI'd always heard that children's chemistry sets got increasingly dumbed down because of a combination of direct regulation of common chemicals, under the rubric of both the War on Drugs and the War on Terror, and fear of tort liability. Is that not the case?
- girvo 13y agoWell it certainly does make some useful chemicals annoying to get.
- fr0sty 13y ago> Is that not the case? It is the case, and is the reason this set is put together. Here's a BBC article on the subject: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19050342 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19050342
- cjfont 13y agoSo wouldn't all of those reasons also apply to this chemistry set as well? What is it about this one that would mitigate the same concerns as applied to other sets?
- solarmist 13y agoThat's the whole point of this set it to allow you to do the "dangerous" (read: interesting) experiments. None of it is illegal, but it just discards the last 50 years of increasing concern for allowing children to do dangerous things. So yes it's a risk and it can be used to make illegal/dangerous substances, but none of it is illegal, just risky. Just major companies don't want to take on the kind of risk that comes with it. Whereas boutique shops have a lot more freedom because they're selling to self selecting audiences, which (generally) understand they're taking on additional risks with the increased benefits.
- mildtrepidation 13y agoWhereas boutique shops have a lot more freedom because they're selling to self selecting audiences, which (generally) understand they're taking on additional risks with the increased benefits. They may take advantage of having the same freedoms that larger companies just don't exercise, but the idea that their audience is "self-selecting" likely won't hold up or protect them from the kind of litigation that means this is (in practice) a bad idea (from a business survival standpoint). I see the set as a good thing, but I don't think saying they're protected in any way or that the concerns of larger companies don't apply is accurate.
- MrZongle2 13y agoFinally, something "for the children" that I can get behind.
- erva 13y agoAs a resident of Kansas City and having visited John's store many times, I can tell you that this guys is amazing. He does hands on classes for kids (minimum age 7) on chemistry, archaeology, botany, geology, robotics/ electronics, wood working, etc. Just like this kit; he doesn't dumb down anything. I turn into a kid every time I go into his store.
- ethomson 13y agoIndeed; I tend not to find too many kickstarter projects that I'm interested in, but as I continued to read this one I continued to be impressed. John obviously has a gift for bringing sciences to the masses. My favorite is the "spitfire kit": "Each kit will allow users to kindle a ...fire... by using two chemicals and a drop of spit." Brilliant.
- psutor 13y agoI'm in Kansas City too, I'll have to stop by!
- SamuelMulder 13y agoI wish I lived near enough to visit. Very inspiring story.
- lleatirt 13y agoAs a synthetic chemist, it really surprised me to see carbon tetrachloride featured prominently in one of the pictures on kickstarter. The use of this chemical is essentially nonexistent anymore due to its toxicity, carcinogenic properties, and danger to the environment. I'm all for letting kids learn with all manner of chemicals, but why bother with one that both academia and industry have essentially deprecated?
- FrankenPC 13y agoThe only thing I saw that would be of any interest is reproducing the Appel reaction. I agree with you, not necessary. I wonder if the inventor is including this simply because it more closely mimics the legacy chemistry sets. You know, for collectors.
- solarmist 13y agoYeah, I think he wants to reproduce the original kit as closely as possible, even if some chemicals have been discarded in modern uses.
- sanskritabelt 13y agoIf one weren't going for nostalgia, what chemicals would one put in a modern chemistry kit?
- solarmist 13y agoI think it's would be mostly the same with just a couple substitution. Even though some of the chemicals aren't used anymore and are considered harmful overall that doesn't mean they don't belong in a chemistry set for learning purposes. I'm just thinking of the first time I saw a piece of sodium dropped in water. So I can imagine that just because its a waste at the professional and real world level doesn't mean it's necessarily a waste at the toy level. But as for this specific chemical I have no idea if this is true about it or not.
- trumbitta2 13y agoI had the "plastic version" as a kid (11 years old)... so much fun! I ran all the experiments more than once, and felt like I was really learning something for the first time. I had to wait till I got into computer science (at 18, pentium 75 era), to re-experience such a wonderful feeling.
- rzt 13y agoWow, I passed through Kansas City a few months ago on a cross-country move and wish I knew about this store (and stopped in). I don't often fund kickstarters, but this one I could get behind –– something about it resonates with me.
- vincefutr23 13y agois mercury included?
- solarmist 13y agoHe sells mercury on his site.
- rfrey 13y agoOnly ships to the United States, sadly for me and my son.
- zokier 13y agoMaybe I'm part of the problem, but I wouldn't let a kid to play with fully equipped chemistry set without supervision any more than I would let him/her play with loaded gun without supervision. Of course I also think that both activities are fine under supervision. Anyways, I really really hope that anyone buying this for a kid is also prepared to spend time with the kid.
- smokeyj 13y agoSometimes you have to let kids shoot themselves in the foot. It teaches character.
- marcosdumay 13y agoAs long as you are talking metaphorically, yes, I agree. But there is a certain amount of danger that they'd better avoid. And, the best way to avoid danger is by learning the safety procedures. That kit could be used to make the world much safer (and more interesting) for them, but one can't just give the kit to kids, and letting them loose.
- zokier 13y agoThe problem being that it's not always their own foot that gets shot. Stuff like lack of responsible disposal of projects does not directly impact the aspiring chemist, but can be hazardous for the environment. I doubt poisoning groundwater teaches anyone character.
- solarmist 13y agoI agree, unless they're older, but I think that's half the point too. Doing something worthwhile with your kids. That said I'm getting this for me.
- SamuelMulder 13y agoI hope so too, but I hope that for those not buying the set as well. Seriously, parents should be looking for opportunities to teach responsibility and work with real "stuff". This is not exactly as dangerous as a loaded gun. More like a kitchen knife, which is dangerous but parents should be teaching their older children how to use safely.
- gcv 13y ago> it needs to be noted that some states do frown on its citizens owning chemical glassware. Excuse me? Glassware?
- gknoy 13y agoWell, yeah, because clearly (sarcasm) anyone that owns chemical glassware will be using it to cook up meth.
- lambda 13y agoYes. Texas requires you to have a permit to buy laboratory glassware, under the assumption that if you don't have a permit, you are going to use it to manufacture meth: http://www.dps.texas.gov/RegulatoryServices/narcotics/narcprecursor.htm http://www.dps.texas.gov/RegulatoryServices/narcotics/narcpr... That's Texas style freedom for you!
- sambeau 13y agoAs a Brit I'm totally baffled that Texas is happy for its citizens to own guns but baulks at them owing beakers… …baffled and saddened.
- lambda 13y agoAs an American, I am too.
- CamperBob2 13y agoWhy baffled? Any arguments that you use to prohibit one can just as easily be used to prohibit the other. When your laws target objects rather than actions, you can't avoid this kind of stupidity.
- tlarkworthy 13y agoI just want to make plain old moonshine.
- chiph 13y agoAnd weighing scales. Same reason - the war on drugs.
- lechevalierd3on 13y agoinches... the box dimensions are given in inches...
- jmcqk6 13y agoI purchased one of these years ago from this shop. It didn't come in a nice case or anything, but it contained great glassware and chemicals. It's stayed with me for years now. This is a great shop, and if you're ever in Parkville, MO (in the KC Metro Area), you should definitely check it out. The owners are very nice, and they're shop is full of wonder things.
- jyagmin 13y agoThis is so amazing, but probably dangerous.
- ssshanky 13y agoI saw this vintage chemistry set at an antique store in Bisbee, AZ. It includes a booklet called "Senior Chemcraft Experiment Book -- Instructive and Fascinating Chemical Experiments -- The Porter Chemical Company, Hagerstown, Maryland" and something labelled "Bryan Chemical Illustrators -- An Exclusive Chemcraft Feature". http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5477/10826914195_23dc191246_h.jpg http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5477/10826914195_23dc191246_h.... http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5471/10826917855_dfe388f77c_h.jpg http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5471/10826917855_dfe388f77c_h.... http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5478/10826957096_a0eec5199e_h.jpg http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5478/10826957096_a0eec5199e_h.... I recall thinking how fun it would be to have that set, as well as how risky it could be. I probably should've bought it.
- codingdave 13y agoI'm confused - he already has a store, already has demand for this product. There are even comments here from people saying they have already bought this set from this guy. Why does he need Kickstarter? He is not asking us to fund development of a new project, he is asking us to fund his supply chain.
- Guvante 13y agoHe is already making the chemicals but isn't in the business of selling finished kits from his description. So the difference between making a bunch of bottles of stuff and selling a whole box with various things as shown in the pictures.
- benjamta 13y agoWow - I love this, love both the aims of this project and the look of the finished product. Fantastic stuff! Can't wait to see one of these recreated next: http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/atomictoys/GilbertU238Lab.htm http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/atomictoys/GilbertU238Lab...
- CamperBob2 13y agoThe United Nuclear guys could put something like that together. Maybe they'll follow this fellow's example, since it looks like his Kickstarter effort is being well received.
- Fundlab 13y agoThis is so nicely packaged. I am definitely going to snag one up for the sake of curiosity
- jimmcslim 13y agoFeelings of nostalgia are frequently observed in subjects discussing chemistry sets, however this observation may be subject to survivorship bias...
- SamuelMulder 13y agoTrue, the millions of children killed by chemistry sets don't live to tell...
- reasonnotreason 13y agoI am pretty sure the set pictured would be illegal in the state of Texas without registering with the state. Maybe these laws have changed in the last decade, but they don't allow all manner of glassware. Yep, here is the list. (A) a condenser (B) a distilling apparatus (C) a vacuum drier (D) a three-neck or distilling flask (E) a tableting machine (F) an encapsulating machine (G) a filter, Buchner, or separatory funnel (H) an Erlenmeyer, two-neck, or single-neck flask (I) a round-bottom, Florence, thermometer, or filtering flask (J) a Soxhlet extractor (K) a transformer (L) a flask heater (M) a heating mantel or (N) an adaptor tube It sucks telling your kid she can't have a chemistry set because of this nonsense.
- solarmist 13y agoWhy not just register it then? (Also, he mentions on his website that he's shipped this set to all 50 states in the past)
- auctiontheory 13y agoOur project's greatest challenge has been producing the actual sets' boxes exactly to my specifications. This sentence really rubs me the wrong way. It says to me that they really do not think about the possible consequences of distributing these to unsupervised kids. It's the "I just gave him the gun/alcohol, what he did after that is not my problem" point of view. I'm not saying that all kids shouldn't have access to fully-loaded chemistry sets, but chemicals should be distributed with forethought, and this guy is clearly not thinking about what harm the chemicals can do. (He's thinking about how to design a nice case.)
- eru 13y agoI think you misinterpreted that section. It's a section all kickstarter campaigns have. Eg video game campaigns don't talk about the dangers of playing video games, they talk about the risks of the not shipping..
- solarmist 13y agoHe's run a shop selling similar kits for years, I think he's got this covered pretty well already.
- csmuk 13y agoI see a lot of reactionism on this thread regarding "kids and chemistry sets". I agree but disagree. With the right supervision, it's awesome. The latter is key. I had multiple chemistry sets and am not dead and have all my fingers. In fact I was always, with the aid of reference books, mixing various things together purchased from every day shops, purchasing piles of fireworks and doing things frowned upon. At my secondary school in the early 1990's we were allowed to help ourselves to stuff in the chemical larder as long as we told them what it was for and did the lab safety test first. It was stuffed full of small chunks of Uranium, sodium (under oil) and all sorts of nasty shit that could easily kill you without much notice. Inevitably we passed that as too dangerous and proceeded to stock up on fumic nitric acid, formaldehyde and ammonia. This was done with supervision. About two hours later, in a fume cupboard, we had 50g of RDX (C4 precursor) which was considerably more dangerous than the above. We carried this in a metal flask on a public bus to local GSK labs where they did NMR spectroscopy on it. People were interested and quite helpful there. Then we took it to the school field and blew 10g of it up with a magnesium taper. The rest was disposed of by the lab techns (probably by doing the same because they were slightly nuts). We extracted Aspirin from willow, made RDX, various plastics, thermite, did glasswork, extracted our own DNA, made fireworks and countless other things I can't remember now that were cool. Now we would be branded terrorists. Chemistry was awesome and no one was hurt. My understanding for the universe from a physics and chemistry perspective is pretty good due to this. I would buy this chemistry set in a second.
- exDM69 13y agoThe kids who grew up with this kind of chemistry sets in the 1920s to 1960s were the kids who grew up to be the scientists and engineers who built the internet, landed on the moon and split the atom. When I was a kid, as a part of my education I learned how to use a band saw, did chemistry experiments and learned how to weld with MIG and solder with an oxy-acetylene flame, even do some radioactive experiments. Yes, there was adult supervision but only one adult per 15-20 kids. This was less than 15 years ago, and during that time we've seen a huge shift in the mentality. One lost thumb was deemed acceptable if the rest of the kids learned how to use the band saw. These days kids live their sheltered lives and are not exposed to dangerous situation they have to learn to deal with. Technology is getting more, not less, complicated and learning to deal with the basics - like chemistry, electricity and radioactivity - at an early age will become more important, not less. The world out there is dangerous in many ways, learning to manage risks and deal responsibly with dangerous materials and tools is an invaluable skill. PS. I, too, would like to have this chemistry set but unfortunately they can't ship it outside the US.
- whatusername 13y agoCan anyone fill me in on what he is likely using for this: "a "Spit Fire, Save Matches" kit. Each kit will allow users to kindle a minimum of 10 campfires, fireplace fires, or charcoal pits by using two chemicals and a drop of spit." (at the $45 reward level)
- wuschel 13y agoThere is a difference between using a chemistry set to learn something about the world through analytics and creation/change of matter, and to play around with it. I agree with csmuk wholeheartedly that it is the supervision that counts. A chemistry kit can be a great learning tool, but it is not something that should be taken as a toy to play around. We all play, make mistakes, and learn due to those mistakes. But with chemistry those mistakes could show in the form of a hospital visit, chemical pollution, or long term poisoning. I had the fortune to survive an explosion in a lab unscathed, and I will not forget the day I saw my collegue burn 2 meters from me. Proper training in chemistry is important for reasons of safety and for scientific understanding and reasoning. But let us face it, most people do not like chemistry at all in school. But blowing stuff up and making drugs a la Breaking Bad is cool. When I read the words RDX, CCl4, conc. H2SO4, Methylamine - a bit of TiCl4 perhaps - etc in this thread I imagine the kid with sparks in his eyes who wants to blow stuff up on new years eve. So, how can one include proper attitude towards the materials inside this Chemistry Set without proper supervision?
- mrossol 13y agoI just can't help but comment on carbon tetrachloride mentioned below. It has NOT been used in fire extinguishers or any other consumer use for decades. It is one of the chemicals specifically banned for consumer use by the Federal Hazardous Substances Act. There are a number if issues with this kit that are likely to be a big deal someday for this company.