Sound but no Fury

The other day I ran across an article [Link] entitled “Whatever happened to kids’ chemistry sets?” in the BBC News Magazine. It’s rather a weepy, hands wringing type of do-gooder social engineering article that bemoans the dangers in old time (1949-1970 era) children’s chemistry sets. I was particularly taken by a couple of statements:

“Portable chemistry sets were first used in the 18th Century but it took more than 100 years before they became popular with children, partly prompted by a desire to recreate the coloured puffs of smoke used by conjurors.”

and

‘So what happened to the kits that were able to create the experiments that adults today so fondly remember? “Very often now, health and safety is used an excuse by schools, for example, not to do chemistry, not that it’s dangerous necessarily but it’s cheaper not to do the experiments.” ‘

But the real reason is social deterioration and economics. The corporate overlords who manufacture stuff don;t want the liability, or the risk of someone actually learning how to sabotage ‘Metropolis’. (Yes, that’s actually a movie reference.)

I have described previously the enormous impact that Professor George Toffel of the Campus of the Black Warrior had on the child nerds of Alibam. If ever there was a success story of public television, it was he. And while he was a chemist, his demonstrations definitely took on the aspect of conjuring. He was a master of the demonstration and it was not until years later that I realized how much the other faculty envied him his talents and made his life a bit difficult for it. Even professors occasionally visit the petty side of the force.

But I do not think the true nerds wanted chemistry sets to do demonstrations. Rather, I think we were influenced by the so-called science fiction movies of the day, mostly the atomic hysteria genre of the ’50′s, and, of course, the incomparable and unique Science Fiction Theater to want to do what we thought, from the videos, was science. Certainly that was my desire, not to blow things up or do tawdry tricks, but to actually do research. Never mind that the research had already been done and we would have realized this if the adults hadn’t kept us ignorant and unable to access such simple things as freshman chemistry textbooks that would have quickly destroyed our interest in the chemistry sets.

As much as the social engineers may decry the chemicals in those chemistry sets, they were collections of largely useless stuff. Even the uranium dust that is often denounced as the death powder of our generation was present in such a small quantity that it was less dangerous than the radium in the dials of our wrist watches. And if we had had access to the information in freshman chemistry texts we would have realized this and given the chemistry sets up as useless fakes.

I recall I spent long hours trying to find combinations of the contents of the little bottles that would do something. Not necessarily explode but at least change color or temperature, things that were readily observable. And they did not, beyond the tawdry examples in the neutered manuals.

If I can say anything about the chemistry set that I had to wait too long for because of my parents’ fears is that it taught me about frustration and failure, two things that it is good for a scientist to become comfortable with. So in that regard, it was a good educational device. What I am not sure of is whether that was the intent or not?

And dangerous it was only in the sense of cutting oneself on the poorly made aluminum case or burning oneself on the alcohol lamp, two dangers unmentioned by the social engineers. If anything, the really dangerous thing was the experiment kits of the American Basic Science Club, but not the radioactivity one. Again, it was less dangerous than a wrist watch.

But that’s another blot.

humans, childhood, chemistry, set, learning, stupidity

Days of Nerdish Yore

Week out truncated! I shortly face the task of awakening FD SCP and loading up the motorcar for our gallop. And then, of course, being off on the gallop itself. Alas, these types of expedition are for young folk. I feel like I am off on campaign with a train of sewing machines instead of ordnance. At least the caliber is less and the ammunition less bulky.

But on such matters, I ran across this cartoon [Link]

yesterday, and it rather reminded me of my own youth, back when I would be working on science project and would have to negotiate – beg might be a better term – for leeway to acquire the things that I though needed to do the project. It was always a losing proposition because I could never adequately explain how plans were transient and reality periodically and emphatically stepped in. Still somehow I managed to make do, which is a large part of what the activity was supposed to accomplish. It is sad that this cannot be comprehended by educationalists today, who seem to think science projects are some form of terrorism or such.

I never needed fifty hamsters. Two was my limit and enough for me to pale on biology. Nothing like dealing with the actualities of life to alienate one to it.

This may also explain why FD SCP won’t let be build a (small) trebuchet.

Anyway, enough flinging of metaphorical metabolic product, the game need to be footed!

REMCO Replay

Freya’s day, and once more to be drug about town by FD SCP. Back in the days when we both worked for the Yankee army five days a week, more at no pay when they wanted it, this happened on Saturn’s day (Ayeh, mythology shift here!)

The process is that I wait around most of the morning, at least to what is the mid point of the day for me, and then we decamp into a motorcar to dash about Greater Metropolitan Arab buying stuffs. So while I am waiting – this is also a day that FD SCP sleeps in – I have opportunity to cogitate and consider.

One of the tabs in my browser is for REMCO Science KIts. [Link] To properly make this connection, I need to be a bit garrulous, which is to be expected of an Old Retired Flatulence. I mentioned a few weeks ago that FD SCP and I had motored up to Oakville to see mounds. I should correct myself to say that we motored up to Oakville for me to see mounds and then to motor to Hartselle for FD SCP to see antiques. So I had to trade my scant minutes walking ground for an interminable number of hours spent going through antique shops.

This is not as bad as it seems since I get to look for stuff I am interested in such as old books and magazines, old fountain pens and pencils, and what not in and around FD SCP looking for the stuff she looks for. I lack the diligence and perseverence she has so a store that takes me ten minutes to scan takes her at least thirty. So I have learned to take my fold up camping stool with me. It serves two functions: it gives me somewhere to sit in the interval between when I get through looking and FD SCP gets through looking; and it really torques obnoxious storekeepers.

Anyway, in one of these stores I ran across a couple of REMCO science kits. Both were used and missing vital parts and the price was way out of range (yes, it was one of those antique shops where the proprietor wants to make sure he/she never has to worry about restocking,) but a flood of memories was unleashed that were quite strong since they had been buried since the event.

I have blogged a couple of times on the American Basic Science Club, and will inflict nothing further on that subject now except to say that the REMCO kits immediately preceded the ABSC experience. The REMCO kits were widely available and were put on the shelves just before Christmas so that parents of nerd children could be enticed to fix their difficulty of what do bog parents get nerd children for Christmas. My parents had already learned that bicycles and BB guns were acceptable but not suitable gifts for an occasion as serious as the gift holy day.

Anyway, I recall getting three (maybe four) of the kits as Christmas presents; I think they were from Saint Nick but I had reached the age where I knew better but kept my mind deluded so as not to screw things up for my younger brother, one of the great unknown and hence unappreciated things that olders do for youngers in complete oblivion.

The kits came in cardboard cans,

with aluminimum end pieces. The upper one was removable; the lower not. Of the three kits one was a dud, the one depicted in the picture which is of a simple balloon impelled projectile project. It may have been science but it was trivial stuff to a kid raised in Nawth Alibam’s Shining City on the Hill where everyone knew how rockets worked. Well, every kid except the terminal bogs who were destined to be jocks or cheerleaders in high shul.  Only the nerd and geek adults understood, which in retrospect is why I think my parents chose this kit. It was a mystery (in the mystical sense) to them.

I don;t recall what the third kit was right now, but the second was an electric motor and it was a delight. It came with a few metal or plastic parts and a whole lot of varnished copper wire. I spent two days winding armatures before I could assemble the motor – a half hour – and test it with a filched flashlight battery. (In those days, people evidently only bought batteries on demand. When you needed one for a new device or to replace an exhausted one, you put it on grocery list and got it on errands day. No wonder all the propaganda about checking batteries in flashlights and air warning devices.) The thrill when the motor actually worked, with a bit of rotational coaxing to get past the starting resistance, was one of the greatest thrills of my life, much stronger than my first reproductive encounter. (Which may also be a distinction between bog and not bog?)

Anyway, since the shul desessioning at christmas was two weeks and approximately evenly divided, the REMCO kits kept me distracted in full during that last week. And probably taught me a lot more than I learned in shul that year.

humans, behavior, childhood, science, education, learning

Uneducational Toys

Some time ago IO9 had a bit about chemistry sets. [Link] I thought about this for a while, then wrote most of a blot on the subject, and CHROME ate the blot before I could post it. So I spent a while sulking and being micturated at CHROME and Gooey before reinforcing my opinion that CHROME was OK for recreational browsing but for serious stuff FireFox was the safe choice. And that’s not the development version, it’s the stable one. And after a further period of consideration, I am now assaying another attempt at a blot on chemistry sets.

If you believe the popular folklore of the children of the ’50′s, at least the boys, there is a short list of stuff you should want for birthday and Christmas (Hanukkah?) holiday presents: sports equipment; bicycle; BB gun; and chemistry set. The chemistry set is kind of nerdy and is often poo-pooed on the macho lists. Not so for me. My list started with chemistry set, followed distantly by bicycle and BB gun, and I suspect those two are more a matter of peer pressure and parental pushing than my own actual interest.

Sad to relate, I got the bicycle first, and then not until I was old enough to need a full size bike. Yes, I never had one of those dinky learning bicycles. The neighborhood we lived in bordered a divided multi-lane highway so there wasn’t much of where I could ride but once they built an elementary shul in the neighborhood, my parents rationalized I could ride bicycle to shul rather than my mother participate in a car pool.[1] So after learning – sorta – how to ride – many scrapes and much bleeding in the process – I was allowed to walk the bicycle across the highway but ride on either side. But frankly, I was never a comfortable, natural rider and was very glad when I left that shul and once more had to motor to class.

Next I got the BB gun. Evidently even with the shooting one’s eye out, my parents considered this less dangerous than a chemistry set. It turned out to be a big zip. Muzzle velocity was so low, and the barrel so much bigger than the pellets that accuracy in the far field was nonexistent. So after a couple of tries at backyard shooting it grew dust until given away to someone. I don’t recall who but do recall it was a non-matter.

Then finally I got the chemistry set. I poured over it and discovered it was an enormous fake. What could be done with it was almost nothing especially lacking any basic education in atomic and molecular structure or stoichiometry or reactivity or thermodynamics and that was not forthcoming from the manufacturers. The pictures they showed

were largely fake. Chemistry sets were vastly overblown. In fact, in later years I wondered why the combination of chemistry set with microscope? I got them separately and thoroughly got use of the microscope because I was using it to do biological stuff. But chemistry stuff and microscope don’t got together except maybe in bog parents’ minds? Geology and chemistry do but that’s a different kind of microscope. And what parents in their right mind let you wear Sunday shirts to play with chemistry set? And what chemistry set comes with a pharmacist’s graduate? Chemical graduated cylinders are cylinders, pharmacists used the graduated conical beakers as shown, and to my experience the two never met.

So aside from the microscope, which wasn’t even on the list, everything was a bust, except the bicycle which turned out to be OK to get to and from shul but not fun because after all, I was a nerd with my face in books and not some bog out breaking bones playing football at 12.

And then I got the American Basic Science Club kits,

and that was it! I was hooked. No longer just a nerd, now a nerd who would become a scientist. Ayeh my mother still wanted me to become a physician and my father wanted me to go to business shul, but ultimately it would be physics because understanding was more important than making work.

And years later, after a few college degrees, including one in chemistry, I realized that the worries my parents had over safety were totally misplaced. The chemicals in that chemistry set were harmless. The only thing dangerous in it was an alcohol lamp which was so shoddily made that it wouldn’t work most of the time. But what was dangerous was the household chemicals – like bleach and cleaning ammonium hydroxide – and chemicals you could buy at the drug store. If you had a little knowledge. But that knowledge didn’t come across till college by which time I had found a lot more dangerous stuff to do.

That’s what I found out, that the stuff in the educational toys usually aren’t dangerous, and usually aren’t very educational at all. But what’s just easily found in the house or the stores can be, if you know what you’re about.

Another reason I’m glad I’m not young and wouldn’t want to be. Bad as the toys were back then they were at least some fun and you could do things that today would get you counseling and your parents in jail.

[1]  This was when Huntsville was growing with rocket and missile folks and the nearest shul, Lincoln which finally closed this spring, was a good fifteen minutes drive away.

Unback to the Anti-Future

The feeds yesterday delivered a couple of weapons of mass nostalgia. So overcome with the emotion of memory, I failed to blog.

This morning is a new week, at least according to the convention that Sundae ends the week, and courtesy of an hour of aerobic perspiring I have some of the irrationality under control. Two of these bouts seem worth boring with, just because of innate perversity.

The first was prompted by a link to a video, on IO9, I believe, to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

The big thing about this bridge was that a few months after it was opened to traffic the winds in the narrows tore it apart (as you can plainly see.)

I forget how many classes I had to watch this film in. I know in freshman general physics – I think it was shown during the period when the professor’s wife was birthing – and in sophomore mechanics. The story was that this was an example of resonance forcing, a subject of some interest to students of physics since it is so hard to get to work. And perhaps because it got covered in a rather incomplete fashion.

What didn’t get covered was the details of how the energy gets into the system and how it gets back out again, a matter that is still not well understood in terms of practical application. But what came back with seeing that film was all the memories of those wonderful days when life was simple, so long as the student deferment and the money held out, and all you really had to worry about was learning everything you could and keeping hormones under control. The latter was important because the campus of the Black Warrior was a frat shul and most coeds didn’t have any attention span for nerds, especially non-engineer nerds. Engineer nerds were sorta acceptable because they would make good salary and hence be good husband potential.

Another component of this was wind. The wind that shook apart the bridge could do so impart because it kept blowing and have a broad range of frequency components. That allowed the resonance to be sustained as the bridge flexed and its resonance frequency shifted. And wind was pretty well missing that summer when I took freshman general physics. But that’s another tale for another blot.

The second nostalgia came from an article on construction toys. [Link] No, not those Tonka toy vehicles that I managed to miss but my younger brother had hordes of. I wasn’t really the male version of mud pies type anyway. Rather, the archetype of the article was the Erector set.

Yes, I had an Erector set as a child, and in retrospect it was my third most favorite building thing.
I can well remember going to bed at night with the tips of my fingers aching from screwing together those minuscule nuts and bolts, small cuts on my hands from when the screwdriver slipped and catastrophe struck. And for some reason whatever got created had to be disassembled by bedtime. Sometimes a child’s life is a snapshot of Tartarus.

But my second favorite building thing was a similar collection of parts that allowed me to do things with water.

Given the prohibition on having any creation exist overnight, I am still mystified why my parents, my mother in particular, let me play with water. And water is amazingly attractive to children: solids are aplenty; gases cannot be seen; but water is just strange.

I also recall that this kit had the advantage that it didn’t have nuts and bolts, just friction connections. So it was easier on the finger tips. But both laid foundation for that fascination with the bridge. And thereby, the man.