Danger Is My Middle Name
How good were the old sets? They were certainly more exciting, stocked with iodine and nitrates good for making unstable explosives or homemade rocket motors. Chlorine and cyanide compounds could emit deadly gases. A few chemicals turned out to cause cancer.

Kits from the 1920s to the 60s might include radioactive uranium, deadly sodium cyanide, or pure magnesium foil that burns at 4,000°F, with manuals that told how to mix up gunpowder or melt sand red-hot to blow your own glass test tubes. The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments debuted in 1960, packed with risky experiments. Its 19th-century predecessor, The Boy’s Own Book, had 20-plus pages of chemistry and fireworks recipes.

People tolerated more risk back then, but in exchange, generations of young experimenters were rewarded with deeper discoveries, bigger thrills, and the satisfaction of daring to achieve something important for the future.

Rocketry, nuclear energy, plastics — new sciences that were changing the world — were all highlighted in popular chemistry sets of the mid-20th century. Many of today’s scientists and engineers trace their careers back to the excitement of that first set.

Kits Today: Wimpified
Compared to their robust ancestors, chemistry sets today are wimpy. They revolve around low-energy reactions and the quiet creation of crystals and polymers. The average set from the mall has no burner to provide a flame, no chemicals that go bang. It’ll let you prepare solutions that change
colors or glow like a light stick, but that’s about it for excitement.

Why? It’s common sense to delete highly toxic compounds, and we’re certainly more focused these days on insulating kids from risk.

But mostly it’s fear: of liability, of terrorists, of the neighbors. Overreacting to methamphetamine trafficking, Texas has outlawed the Ehrlenmeyer flask. In August, panicky Massachusetts police ransacked the basement lab of retired chemist Victor Deeb, who was simply fiddling with experiments in his home.

A Few Good Kits
But not every kit maker has chickened out. Thames and Kosmos of Portsmouth, R.I., sells the Chem C3000, a tolerably well-stocked set with extra bottles for risky stuff like hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide, which you’re encouraged to purchase separately.

But if you really want to do chemistry at home, you’ll want to make your own DIY chemistry set. Elemental Scientific sells kits of chemicals, glassware, and lab equipment selected specifically to accompany MAKE author Robert Bruce Thompson’s Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments. To learn more, get the book at makershed.com or visit homechemlab.com.

DIY Chemistry: Then and Now

We asked author Robert Bruce Thompson about the powerful stuff in classic chemistry sets that’s missing today — and where you can get it.

The BGL Chemical Set
B.G.L. Limited, London, England, 1930s
“Perfectly Harmless!”

Lead acetate aka sugar of lead, Pb(C2H3O2)2
A highly toxic compound used as
a sweetener in ancient Rome, it’s
hard to believe this was in kids’ sets, but here it is — sold by the British Gas Light Company.
DIY: Textile, dye, and alternative photography suppliers.

Sodium hydroxide aka caustic
soda or lye, NaOH
Not really kids’ stuff either. Extremely corrosive, it burns skin on contact. It reacts with acids violently, with metals to produce flammable hydrogen gas, and with sugars to form deadly carbon monoxide gas.
DIY: Sold at hardware stores as crystal drain cleaner (check the label to make sure it’s pure).

Mr. Wizard’s Experiments
in Chemistry, Set MW-073
Owens-Illinois, Inc., Toledo, Ohio, 1973
“Exciting and Fun”

Iodine, I2
“Iodine is now a Drug Enforcement Administration List I material, which means it’s no longer readily available, and paperwork is required,” says Thompson. The only exception is for 1 fluid ounce or less of iodine solution that contains 2.2% or less of iodine.
DIY: “You can make your own iodine crystals from potassium iodide (KI), which is the subject of our first how-to video at homechemlab.com.”

“Mystery Powder”
This was reportedly sucrose and acetylsalicylic acid, i.e. sugar and aspirin.

2,4-Dichlorophenol, C6H4Cl2O
A toxic ingredient in herbicides and pesticides, it’s a suspected carcinogen and endocrine disruptor. “A common precursor for industrial-scale syntheses, it’s a chemical with few or no uses in a home lab,” Thompson says.
DIY: It’s a mystery.

Chemcraft Chemical
Outfit No. 1
Porter Chemical Co., Hagerstown, Md., 1917
“Perfectly Safe. Contains No Poisonous Or Otherwise Harmful Substances”

Potassium nitrate, KNO3
Sulfur, S8
Gunpowder precursors were common in chemistry sets before about 1940. Black powder is potassium nitrate (saltpeter), carbon (charcoal), and sulfur mixed in the correct proportions (see MAKE, Volume 13, “The
Fire Drug”).

“Potassium nitrate and table sugar, if processed and mixed properly, can form a low explosive that’s used for amateur rocket motors (“rocket candy”),” says Thompson. “Otherwise they simply form a very combustible mixture that burns fiercely and generates a lot of smoke (smoke bombs). In today’s sets, sulfur is still common — but not potassium nitrate.”
DIY: Charcoal you can get anywhere. Potassium nitrate is sold as a fertilizer (14-0-45 or 13-0-46), and sulfur is sold in lawn and garden stores to
control plant pests and diseases.

Ammonium nitrate, NH4NO3
Explosive, it’s used in fertilizer bombs like the one that destroyed the federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995.
DIY: Sold at lawn and garden or farm supply stores as 34-0-0 fertilizer.

Strontium nitrate, Sr(NO3)2
Extremely volatile, it’s used to color fireworks. When heated, it releases toxic nitrogen dioxide gas.
DIY: Chemical supply companies.

Gilbert Chemistry Set
A.C. Gilbert Co., New Haven, Conn., 1920s
“Today’s Adventures in Science Will Create Tomorrow’s America”

Sodium cyanide, NaCN
Erector Set inventor A.C. Gilbert actually sold kids this chemistry set with sodium cyanide, the stuff of suicide capsules and murder most foul. “Deadly stuff in pretty small doses,” says Thompson, “just like potassium cyanide. It also reacts with acids to form hydrogen cyanide gas, which is also deadly. This isn’t something kids should be messing with. It’s so toxic that it’d have been insane to include it, even back when things were a lot more relaxed.”
DIY: It’s sold by some photography suppliers, but its transport is heavily regulated.

Gilbert No. U-238 Atomic Energy Lab
A.C. Gilbert Co., New Haven, Conn., 1950s
“Most Modern Scientific Set Ever Created!”

Radioactive uranium ores, UO2
and others
These 4 small samples of carnotite, autunite, torbernite, and uraninite emitted alpha, beta, and gamma radiation. The set also had a Geiger counter, a cloud chamber to see the paths of alpha particles, and an electroscope and spinthariscope for detecting radioactivity and decay.
DIY: “Readily available,” says Thompson. “United Nuclear sells small chunks of various (slightly) radioactive ores and minerals. They present no real danger, although
they shouldn’t be ingested and it’s
a good idea to handle them only
with gloves and tongs.”

Gilbert Chemistry Set
A.C. Gilbert Co., New Haven, Conn., c. 1920s

Glass blowing kit
A.C. Gilbert strikes again. Sand (silicon dioxide) melts at 3,100°F. But if you add soda ash (sodium carbonate)
and powdered limestone (calcium carbonate), it melts into glass at just 1,600°F. Still, that’s 1,600°F, kids.
Mind your fingers.
DIY: Readymade lab glassware is sold by suppliers like Elemental Scientific (see Resources).

Porter Chemcraft Master Chemistry Lab No. 616
featuring Atomic Energy
Porter Chemical Co., Hagerstown, Md., 1950s “Modern Plastic Experiments. Outer Space Experiments”

Radioactive uranium ore
See Gilbert No. U-238.

Carbon tetrachloride, CCl4;
Nickel ammonium sulfate, Ni(NH4)2(SO4)2·6H2O
Both are likely carcinogens, banished from chemistry sets today. Neither
is particularly dangerous to handle, says Thompson, if you take proper precautions to avoid fumes or dust, prevent skin contact, and so forth.
DIY: Readily available from chemical suppliers such as Elemental Scientific and Home Science Tools.

Calcium hypochlorite, Ca(ClO)2
A strong oxidizer, it’s been known to undergo self-heating and rapid decomposition, releasing toxic
chlorine gas. “Frankly, I see little use for this chemical in a home lab,” says Thompson. “For most purposes you can substitute the much safer sodium hypochlorite solution sold in grocery stores as chlorine bleach.”
DIY: Sold as pool and spa “shock” treatment; use bleach instead.

Sodium ferrocyanide, Na4Fe(CN)6
Ferrocyanide salts react with iron(III) (ferric) ions to produce the intense pigment Prussian blue, so they’re a great test for the presence of ferric
ions. “Despite the ‘cyanide’ in the name, these salts are relatively nontoxic and safe to handle,” says Thompson. “Heating them to decomposition or treating them with a strong mineral acid does produce hydrogen cyanide gas, which is deadly in significant amounts. Technically, these salts are considered poisons, but they’re not really dangerous if handled with normal precautions.”
DIY: Chemical suppliers. For most purposes, you can substitute the more readily available potassium ferrocyanide, K4[Fe(CN)6], also available from photography darkroom suppliers.

For more resources, check out http://makezine.com/16/chemsets/#12.

-Keith Hammond

Daniel had a magician-like patter for each item he showed me: the cylindrical Edison phonograph, the mutoscope, and the hidden camera inside a silver pocketwatch that was used by boxing reporters to take forbidden ringside photos. These inventions were the predecessors of devices and toys we use today, and Daniel wants the current generation to see that inventions don’t come out of the blue.

On a table in his living room sat open a large red Erector Set, a construction toy I remember getting in the 1960s. Daniel’s set was older and well worn. The manual said the Erector Set was “Developed at the Gilbert Hall of Science.” I realized how little I knew about this toy from my childhood.

A 1950 Erector Set: “The World’s Greatest Toy.”

Located in midtown Manhattan, the Gilbert Hall of Science was a multi-story museum created in 1941 by the Erector Set’s inventor, A.C. Gilbert, to showcase educational toys. Gilbert was born in Salem, Ore., and went East to get a Yale medical degree that he never used. He said he was interested in three things: “athletics, sleight-of-hand, and scientific experiments” and those interests would define him. He won the pole vault in the 1908 Olympics, having invented the box that catches the pole on the ground (before then, it had a spike at the end).

Gilbert’s first business was making Mysto Magic kits. It was barely profitable, but while making train trips from New Haven, Conn., to New York, he was inspired by the steel-girder construction of bridges and skyscrapers to create a new kind of educational toy. He produced the first Erector Set in 1913, the year the classic The Boy Mechanic books debuted from Popular Mechanics. It was an immediate success, the right product at the right time.

Each Erector Set box was filled with steel girders, wheels, pulleys, and in larger sets, a battery-powered motor that brought the models to life. Different sets, numbered from 0 to 8, provided the parts for making specific models such as a train bridge or Ferris wheel. In the 1920s, the #8 Erector Set cost $70 and weighed a staggering 150 pounds; it included all the parts for building a 5-foot zeppelin.

Gilbert saw the Erector Set as an ideal toy for the ideal boy, which he defined as competitive, clever, and curious, like himself. His biographer Bruce Watson argues that Gilbert didn’t just invent educational toys, he transformed the popular image of the American boy from problem child to problem solver, from delinquent to constructive contributor.

Perhaps the first to create advertising that spoke directly to young people, Gilbert’s ads opened with his characteristic “Hello Boys.” His slogans for the Erector Set included “Young Boy’s Paradise,” “1000 Toys in 1,” and “The World’s Greatest Toy.”

Gilbert believed children will educate themselves if you give them the right tools — an idea shared more recently by technologists like Seymour Papert of MIT. In an age when most learning was rote memorization, Gilbert saw the importance of creative play and exploration. He made learning fun.

From 1913 to 1966, 30 million Erector Sets were sold. The toy’s popularity spanned the technological era from the Model T and electrification to the age of aerospace, and it evolved to keep pace with these developments. It reflected the can-do spirit of the American Century, a society that was rapidly gaining new abilities to solve problems and do ambitious projects thanks to science and technology. The Erector Set was an invitation for any boy to participate in that future.

Erector’s decline followed Gilbert’s death in 1961, and the A.C. Gilbert company went bankrupt in 1967. The brand was bought by Meccano, an English company whose comparable construction kits grew in parallel to Erector. Lego became the educational construction toy for the video game generation, and today, Gilbert’s image of the American boy seems almost corny, like a Normal Rockwell painting. Still, we recognize him in ourselves and in our kids.

What will be the Erector Set of the 21st century? What construction systems will reflect the methods and personalities of a more diverse group of builders that includes girls and a more global perspective?

Maybe we’re already seeing key components in Arduino, MakerBot, and Kinect, all of which represent new ideas about how to build things and interact with them. Perhaps a new generation will build custom construction sets, as does architect Marc Fornes, designing and cutting pieces to order. I see Maker Faire and MAKE as successors to the Gilbert Hall of Science, inviting kids to build a future for themselves.

-Dale Dougherty

Construction Sets for the American Century

The Erector Set, Tinkertoys, and Lincoln Logs were all introduced in the 1910s, creating a triad of constructions sets that would become dominant toys for many American generations.  Meccano, an English-made construction set of metal parts, was developed around 1901 and was introduced into America in 1903 (Meccano owns the Erector product line today).   LEGO from Denmark was developed around 1949, initiating a wave of sets made from plastic components that came to dominate the latter half of the 20^th Century.

Sources:  Gilbert Project at the Eli Whitney Museum, GirdersandGears.com, The Man Who Changed How Boys and Toys Were Made by Bruce Watson.

The Thingamagoop 2 features a square wave amplitude modulator and triangle wave pulse width modulator, packed into a lovely silkscreened metal enclosure. The Thingamagoop’s signature component is an LED on a bendable wire antenna called the LEDacle, which looks cool and, more importantly, interfaces with the light sensor hidden in the eye, making for a huge range of possible sounds.

I found the build to be rather challenging. It took me a couple of hours to make, with one or two tricky steps. One thing I appreciated was that unlike other Bleep Labs kits, you don’t need anything but the kit itself to make cool music — there’s no need to plug into anything. When I finally finished my Thingamagoop, I turned it on and watched as my kids snatched it out of my hands and ran off with it.

While the Thingamagoop is obviously kid-friendly, it offers some cool features for mom and dad to explore further. For instance, I’m intrigued that you can reprogram its ATmega328 chip using an Arduino.

My daughter and I had fun making the solar-powered fan, electric car, and other projects. She’s a bit young for the kit, so as she used various bits to decorate a finish line for the solar car, I experimented with what else I could power, and for how long, with the 6-farad supercapacitor — those things are amazing. One recommendation: add your own alligator clips (without the leads) to make the solder-less joints less tweaky.

Any type of snow can be compacted into this nifty device to quickly create hundreds of perfectly formed, slanted, stackable igloo building blocks. The Eskimold differs from other snow block kits in that one block edge is concave, the other is convex, allowing them to fit together end to end. The blocks also curve inward slightly (picture an igloo’s interior walls). The last block on each row has to be trimmed, since the igloo gradually leans in as it’s built, and the diameter shrinks with each row. The included plastic snow saw works well.

A skilled builder could mimic the traditional hemisphere igloo design, while the casual builder will end up with a taller, pointier beehive design, which you can actually stand up in. You can make the blocks in advance, let them freeze overnight on a scrap of plywood, stack them on a sled, then haul them to your building spot.

My teenage son slept in his own igloo creation one night, and was comfortable in –15°F weather. If you have a couple of kids, get two Eskimolds to avoid fighting. These plastic buckets are durable, and will last for years.

Reprinted from Cool Tools, kk.org/cooltools