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.
The push to restrict access to chemicals by those who have no academic or scientific credentials gained momentum in the mid-’90s following the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. In the years since 9/11, the Defense Department, FBI, and other government agencies have strategized ways of tracking even small purchases of potentially dangerous chemicals.
“A lot of retailers are scared to carry a real chemistry set now because of liability concerns,” McGuire explains. “The stuff under your kitchen sink is far more dangerous than the things in our kits, but put the word chemistry on something and people become terrified.”
My grandfather always said that our country was never in more trouble than when the Right and Left were on the same side of an issue.
I though the Oklahoma bombings were fertilizer and diesel? Things that could be aquired any number of ways. Bah, this whole idea of psudo-safety at the expense of freedom would make ben franklin roll over and vomit in his grave. You should see what all of this has done to the hobby of model rocketry, the BATF is constantly all over it.
Little Johnny is making a batch of Meth
“”Little Johnny is making a batch of Meth
LOL, these days, it’s probably not too unlikely.
You should see what all of this has done to the hobby of model rocketry, the BATF is constantly all over it.
I remember reading Homer Hickam’s Rocket Boys, and constantly shaking my head at how different the world he grew-up in was… making his own solid-fuel for his rocket motors – in the basement – with chemicals he was allowed to buy at the local drugstore…
Part of me wants today’s kids to have that freedom to explore, while part of me knows that the majority of kids/parents don’t have the maturity – or rational judgement – required for them to be trusted with such dangerous things…
Just because Homer lived to tell about it, doesn’t mean Bobby or Amanda down the street would pass “the test”…
In the future, potential chemists never got interested in the field, so when terrorists from other countries attack us with sophisticated chemical weapons, we won’t have anyone here who could figure out what they used much less counteract it.
What’s next? Children can’t play doctor so we end with a shortage of… Oh, yeah. They’d be arrested as sexual deviants and never get into med school anyway.
Hey, you there, in the corner making sense, quiet down!! I’m trying to watch the latest report on Katie and Tom. She’s thinking that maybe she made a bad choice. Whoa, nobody saw that coming…
Back to topic… sheesh, some people and their “oh, let’s educate children”. That’s what we really need, smart people in America. Come on, the rest of us below-average people, like say the President, are scared of smart people trying to make the world a better place. Instead, let us have some choices, what is this, China?!?! I want my kids to be professional sports stars, rappers, and eventually actors and actresses.
Oops, gotta go! My kids need help connecting the Playstation and shredding their encyclopedia set.