Patrick Reany
3 November 2023
I think I was ten years old when I got my first child's chemistry set. The whole idea of a chemstry set for children seems ridiculous today, but back then the country wanted to encourage the youth to go into the sciences to support the future. There were also microscope kits, atomic energy labs, telescopes, cloud chambers (too bad I missed that one), electrical science kits, rock collections for geologic sciences.
Anyway, after I had retained my chemistry set without incident for a number of years, I went to my dad to ask him if I could use the open-air shed in the backyard to do my chemistry experiments. (This would have been around 1967-8.) He and my mother were only too happy to see me take my interest in science to the next level, and perhaps it would someday lead to my finding a career as a chemist. So they encouraged me and had grandpa enclose the outside shed with a roof and put a door on it. From that moment on, I had my own little laboratory. But I had to earn money to buy the equipment (glassware and metalware) and chemicals, which were expensive even back then.
Were my parents just naive about the dangers of letting their teenage son experiment with chemicals on his own? Perhaps. Maybe they just trusted in God that I wouldn't do too much damage. With investments come risks. For my part, if I had had an older mentor to guide me along, I would have loved it. I don't think that I would have considered myself a mere hobbyist in those days, as I was sincerely attempting to find my place in an eventual career in science, but which one: Biology, chemistry, physics, geology, electricity, etc? I was trying to find out.
Some YouTube sites about hobbyist chemistry in those days are as follows:
VINTAGE CHEMISTRY SETS AND THEIR VOLATILE HISTORY.
Maybe a year later, I asked my dad if I could have a small window placed in the exterior wall so that I could watch some of my experiments from outside the lab --- just in case.
Well, you would think that any reasonable father would have supposed that I had moved into dangerous experimental territory, if that was necessary. But, in the interest of promoting my further education, he agreed to that too. However, soon after that, I would enter high school and my interest in chemistry would wane, being replaced by a new interest in physics. Besides, chemicals and glassware were expensive, and physics only needed some books, scratch paper, and pencils to learn.
Hobby Chemistry in the 1960s
Back in the 1960s one could still buy hobby chemicals over the counter or by mail order, if not in some big store. I doubt that this can be done anymore --- probably for the best. In fact, if my stint as a teenage chemistry hobbyist is typical, it's definitely for the best.
So, I'll be recounting my experiences as a hobbyist chemistry student as best as I can remember it. I won't go over all my experiments --- just the interesting ones. All of these experiments had some danger to them so they should not be done without proper protection, equipment, and supervision. Furthermore, in the interest of not provoking my readers to attempt to reproduce my experiments, I won't provide the actual chemicals I used, except for one case.
The time period was my last year of grade school and the summer before I entered high school. This period would be the peak of my interest in chemistry, as it would soon be replaced by an interest in physics, which I retain to this day. How did I think of the experiments to try? Simple. For the most part, I just read up on them in chemistry books. You should understand that all I wanted to do was to try a lot of experiments to gain a general knowledge of chemical reactions and laboratory techniques.
Experiment #1: Electrolysis of water into hydrogen and oxygen. It would be two decades after this failed experiment that I would learn about the War of the Currents, to fully appreciate the difference between AC and DC. (Where were Westinghouse and Tesla when you needed them most?) I tried to use house current for this 'experiment'. It did not go well. All I did was to blow a fuse. If you want to try the electrolysis of water, a better way might be to use DC from a nine-volt battery. Before you do any experiment, thoroughly research it first.
Experiment #2: Distillation out of a glass retort. I wouldn't have thought of myself as even a hobbyist chemist without a functioning glass retort. Anyway, I was attempting to distill vapors out of the bowl of the retort down its long neck and into a test tube which was placed into chilled water. The retort had a stopper on it to force the vapors down the tube, rather than out the top. I lit the Bunsen burner and watched it go. It worked perfectly. I was collecting the fluid in the test tube, just as I thought would happen. But when I turned off the Bunsen burner to end the distillation, I realized that I had goofed -- big time. As the temperature in the retort dropped, its volume decreased. (Yay, Charles's Law!) The problem is that all the fluid I had collected at the bottom of the test tube was being sucked back up the retort tube, though very slowly. I knew that if that cold fluid suddenly was dumped into the hot fluid at the bottom of the retort that its rapid conversion into a gas would create a tempest, like the rapid decompression of the gas in a soda forces it out of the can or bottle. The preventative was simple. All I had to do was to remove the stopper from the top of the retort to allow the air to enter and that would allow the fluid in the retort tube to fall gently back into the test tube. There was just one problem: The stopper I had use was a leftover from my earlier days of biology experiments, and it was made of rubber, not glass. There was no safe way to get that rubber stopper out of that hot glassware, so all I could do was to step well back and watch the disaster about to happen.
And it did. As I predicted the fluids vaporized and shot out of the retort, leaving a cloud of white vapor in the lab, which wafted outside and then dispersed. I didn't inhale it, as I was well back from it all. I don't remember the actual damage to the glassware. Maybe none. I cleaned up the mess and learned from my mistakes. (That's when I asked my father for that glass window in the lab wall.)
Experiment #3: This was the last experimment (or series of experiments) that I remember. For reasons I cannot now remember, I placed into a beaker some cream of tartar, iron sulfate, and hydrogen peroxide (all household chemicals). This is an exothermic reaction (produces heat) -- so you are forewarned. After the mixture cooled down, for some reason I placed a galvanized nail into it and left it till the next day. But when I saw it the next day, I was amazed. Some form of pretty crystals had grown on the nail! I don't remember if I followed up on this procedure with the same chemicals, but I was inspired to try something closely related.
For my next attempt, I would try to grow a different crystal, using a different sulfate. So, I mixed cream of tartar, copper sulfate, and hydrogen peroxide together. Once again, this was exothermic (if I recall correctly). Afterwards, I placed a new galvanized nail in the mixture and left it till the next day. When I pulled the nail out the next day, I was astonished! No crystals this time. But maybe something better! The nail had been coated with a thin layer of the shiniest copper you ever saw. Like a brand new copper penny. I had, in a sense, discovered a means to copper plate a nail without electroplating.
Now, I have no idea if this result is of any value in academia or industry. Maybe it's already known. I just think that people more knowledgeable in chemistry than I am should know about it and decide. And, I have to give the needed warning here about the danger of trying this experiment or any experiment with chemicals. Don't do it, unless you are willing to accept full responsibility for the risks and you know what you are doing.
What happened to all that chemistry equipment I used to own? I don't remember. Perhaps I donated it to some lab or rummage sale long ago. I haven't seen any of it for over forty years.
What should we think about hobbyist chemistry these days for minors? I don't know. With investment, come risks. But I think it's ironic that in my teen years, the worst accident I ever had to my person was when I burned myself while making popcorn over the stove. Converting corn into popcorn is also a form of chemistry, right?