You may have noticed that I have an attraction to science toys. During my research I have come across several articles, blog entries, and rants about the decline in chemistry sets over the last generation from borderline dangerous home chemistry kits to ineffective, irrelevant, and overly safety-conscious home chemistry toys. Here is a smattering of the some of the more coherent examples:
"But say 'chemistry set' to a kid today and you're likely to get a blank stare or a snicker in response. While the sets still technically exist, they rarely contain any real 'chemicals,' thanks to safety and liability fears; they also characterize scientists as crazy and eccentric rather than respectable and intelligent. This may be fueling kids’ declining interest in science, as evidenced by the fact that the percentage of students pursuing college chemistry degrees today is down by two-thirds since the 1960s. Could the disappearance of the old chemistry sets be somewhat to blame? A lot of scientists say yes."
Via Wiredscience article "Dangerous Science"
"Home-based experimentation is essential to raising the next generation of science nerds. And to make the best nerds in the world, the home experimentation needs to be a wee bit dangerous."
Via the Openscience project
The lure of do-it-yourself chemistry has always been the most potent recruiting tool science has to offer. Many kids attracted by the promise of filling the garage with clouds of ammonium sulfide – the proverbial stink bomb – went on to brilliant careers in mathematics, biology, programming, and medicine.
After reading a book called The Boy Scientist at age 10, Vint Cerf – who became one of the architects of the Internet – spent months blowing up thermite volcanoes and launching backyard rockets. Growing up in Colorado, David Packard – the late cofounder of Hewlett-Packard – concocted new recipes for gunpowder. The neurologist Oliver Sacks writes about his adolescent love affair with “stinks and bangs” in Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood. “There’s no question that stinks and bangs and crystals and colors are what drew kids – particularly boys – to science," says Roald Hoffmann of Cornell University, who won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1981. "Now the potential for stinks and bangs has been legislated out."
Via Wired.com
The good news is there is at least one good chemistry set still available:
As you can see in the picture, it comes with a plenty of good quality equipment, a supply of chemicals, safety goggles, and a 178 page experiment manual. (one of the experiments helps you make a fire extinguisher, which might be helpful with some of the later experiments)
For anyone wanting a little more danger, and aren't afraid of a little copyright violation, follow the link at Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments from Make Magazine's blog
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