Did you ever buy one of those old chemistry sets for kids?

[Frank Goad]

Did you ever buy one of those old chemistry sets for kids? I did.Didn't work.

 

[ChristineM]

My dad went to a reputable toy shop in Manchester and bought me one for a birthday one year. The worst mistake he ever made.
It taught me much about chemistry and gave me the confidence to research and experiment outside the chemistry set.

Spoiler: Some experiments, don't try these anywhere

Making different strengths of gunpowder and trying them out in a copper pipe loaded like a cannon.

Taking some of dads weed killer from the barn and making a bomb that blew a 3 ft crater in a field and smashed a couple of windows quite a way away.

Dad confiscated the chemistry set.

 

[Tomef]

Did you ever buy one of those old chemistry sets for kids? I did.Didn't work.

Yeah. I still remember the smell I got from mixing some blue crystals with something or other. I tried a few experiments, pretty sure they worked, but I can't remember what exactly. Testing PH and things like that maybe.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Did you ever buy one of those old chemistry sets for kids? I did.Didn't work.

Mine had a dead frog in it.

 

[Wu Wei]

No, and my parents wouldn't even buy me one when I was a kid and they were new.....

 

[Jainarayan]

It taught me much about chemistry and gave me the confidence to research and experiment outside the chemistry set.

Me too. I had one that turned into a hobby. I learned a good bit. I never stereotypically blew up the house, but I did stink it up ... bad .. one time. I lit a large amount of sulfur, which wafted around the house. My father wanted to kill me.

 

[Watchmen]

Never had the chemistry set, but had the electronics one. Could basically put some wires together to make a circuit or make a lightbulb come on or receive a radio signal. Fun times.

 

[Jainarayan]

some blue crystals

Possibly copper sulfate.

 

[sun rise]

I had one and thought I'd be a chemist. I even made stuff that would get me in trouble today such as NI3 a contact explosive. Although that was nothing compared to a friend who made nitroglycerin and blew up snowdrifts with the stuff.

 

[Jedster]

My dad went to a reputable toy shop in Manchester and bought me one for a birthday one year. The worst mistake he ever made.
It taught me much about chemistry and gave me the confidence to research and experiment outside the chemistry set.

Spoiler: Some experiments, don't try these anywhere

Making different strengths of gunpowder and trying them out in a copper pipe loaded like a cannon.

Taking some of dads weed killer from the barn and making a bomb that blew a 3 ft crater in a field and smashed a couple of windows quite a way away.

Dad confiscated the chemistry set.

My dad also bought me a chemistry set(at age 12), so I looked up in our Encyclopaedia how to make gunpowder and sure enough I had all the ingredients in the set. So, I made the mix according to the proportions, lit it and to my surprise, it worked and blew a hole in the leather covering my desk. He never found out.