Sciencemadness Discussion Board - Advice for a 15 year old interested in amateur chemistry?

.... I'm 15 and interested in doing some hobby chemistry, Any experiments that might be good for a beginner to try? Also what would be a good way to introduce the idea of amateur chemistry to my parents? ...

Personally i think non-toxic Kitchen reagents and edible Adducts are pretty much in the Zone for what the OP asked for, as quoted above, especially regarding the Parents thing.

Copper chemistry is very nice and colourful, then gets toxic, especially to the one-in-30,000 who cannot metabolise it normally.

@reaganf : try the baking soda thing or the copper thing then come back this same thread (that you created) and show us pictures of the results.

Most of us just talk about stuff, and do not do much these days, so seeing some Action would be awesome, maybe shame us into doing more Chemistry ourselves.

[Edited on 27-10-2017 by aga]

reaganf - 27-10-2017 at 14:44

Quote:

Eh, i don't mind some toxicity, i'll be careful with it but if i didn't do any chemistry involving toxic stuff there wouldn't be that many interesting things, not gonna mess with strong acids, solvents, or cyanides but copper crystals are probably something i can do, got gloves and goggles at home and a well ventilated room with a cement floor that isn't used that would work great for this stuff.

[Edited on 27-10-2017 by reaganf]

DraconicAcid - 27-10-2017 at 14:49

Make sure you don't work with anything that smells bad, or your parents will put an end to your experimentation in short order.

clearly_not_atara - 27-10-2017 at 15:04

One moderately easy compound to make is potassium tetraoxalate.

Advantages: safe precursors, no heavy metals, precipitates out of solution, unlike NaOAc where you have to boil it down. KH3C4O8 is soluble at about 2 grams per 100 mL.

Add a solution of oxalic acid to a solution of potassium sulfate and collect the resulting precipitate by filtration or decanting. Discard the filtrate (liquids) by adding baking soda until fizzing ceases, at which point it can be safely discarded into the sewer.

You can calculate the stoichiometry yourself rather easily; the reaction is:

K2SO4 (aq) + 2 H2C2O4 (aq) >> KH3C4O8 (s) + KHSO4 (aq)

Potassium sulfate is a common fertilizer additive IIRC. You can substitute potassium chloride or potassium bicarbonate but do not use potassium nitrate.

If potassium salts are unavailable, disodium monohydrogen phosphate also has a usefully low solubility.

reaganf - 27-10-2017 at 15:41

I really appreciate all the support and ideas here, Thanks everybody!

Vosoryx - 27-10-2017 at 15:59

I started hobby chemistry at your age. (I'm still a young guy)

First off, It's great that you're into this! I thoroughly enjoy this hobby, and I hope that you do too.

The main thing is getting your parents on board with this. Going over reactions with them, outlining the dangers, and showing them that you are safe enough is crucial. I was pretty lucky, my parents were cool with it, but yours might be different. Maintaining a journal is very important, as is a list of all the chemicals you have. (Both are also useful when the cops show up.)

One other tip that I have is to talk to your chemistry teacher. Tell them that you are interested, and offer to help clean up after labs, or during inventory. Though it is boring, it is very useful for getting started. My first forays into chemistry, before I even bought any of the equipment, was in cleaning up after school while waiting for the bus. My two chemistry teachers (I changed schools in grade 11) taught me a great deal, even going as far to replicate labs they did for higher grades personally for me.
After some time of gathering their character, tell them you are interested in home chemistry. (If you judge their character to be against that, then don't. But I think most chemistry teachers, in this society, would be happy to help.)
I did that, and ended up on a quite close personal relationship with my later teacher, even going as far as him coming to my lab one day, as well as him gifting me over $200 in glassware and supplies.

I've been gifted by my chemistry teachers Burettes, pipettes, test tubes, vials, beakers, FBF's, thermometers, buchner funnels, fritted funnels, tubing as well as a ton of other supplies.

In this society, teachers are generally overworked and underpayed, so they only get into the job due to a real passion for teaching younger generations. Showing them that you are interested in this topic MIGHT end you up with a starting collection of materials. Or even, a place to do some experiments. (Although the laws of restricted chemicals at high schools is usually pretty dumb.)

Also, although i'm sure you've done this, check out some of the great yt channels out there that brilliantly blend theory and lab, such as NileRed, NurdRage, Doug'sLab, Chemplayer, Cody'slab, Extractions & Ire, Allchemystery, etc. I'm sure other members can recommend others. (A lot of those channels are also members here on SM) If you want to learn a lot of introductions to chemistry, though not go too deep into the theory, CrashCourse has a series of 46 on chemistry.

Good luck!

JJay - 27-10-2017 at 16:41

One popular experiment is to write on paper with lemon juice as invisible ink. Heating the paper with a light bulb causes your message to appear.

I personally would not worry about getting your parents on board unless doing something potentially dangerous or controversial or if you want them to buy stuff for you. If you are growing crystals and mixing vinegar and baking soda, it doesn't really matter if you tell them. On the other hand, if you are distilling drain cleaners and paint strippers, you should run it past them first.

[Edited on 28-10-2017 by JJay]

CharlieA - 27-10-2017 at 17:08

If I were starting over, I would get a textbook on qualitative inorganic analysis, which answers the question of "what" is in something. The theoretical part of the book will teach much chemistry. The practical part of the book will have many reactions that you can run on a small (meaning cheap and less hazardous) scale, to learn the chemical properties of many chemical substances. At the same time that you are doing these reactions you will learn basic laboratory techniques. Finally you will learn how to systematically analyze a sample to determine what is in it. Analyzing a sample for its contents, especially when you have little or no idea of what is present, is very rewarding. Generally this can all be done with simple glassware, with no need for instrumentation.

Next I would move on to a study of quantitative inorganic analysis, which is the measurement of how much of something is in a sample.

Preparation (synthesis) of inorganic and organic compounds is also very interesting, but often requires a greater knowledge of chemistry and advanced laboratory techniques. And if you know analytical techniques then you are better able to assess the "what" and "how much" of the products you have prepared.
Also there are a lot of books from about 1930 to 1960 that describe how to set up a laboratory and do many simple experiments.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck!

Rhodanide - 27-10-2017 at 17:37

First of all i'm sorry if this is the wrong forum to ask in. I'm 15 and interested in doing some hobby chemistry, Any experiments that might be good for a beginner to try? Also what would be a good way to introduce the idea of amateur chemistry to my parents? Thanks!

Also i'm sorry if i'm coming off as a kewl, i'm not interested in explosives or anything extremely dangerous.

[Edited on 27-10-2017 by reaganf]

Hey, dude! You came to the right place.
I'm glad to see that you're not jumping too far ahead like I did.
I got too far into the crazy stuff and got an unrealistic expectation of what Chemistry would be like. Definitely read up on it, and if you're a more visual learner, watch videos!! Great way to pass the time. I'd suggest these channels: Doug's Lab, Nile Red, Chem Player, The Chemistry Shack, Random Experiments International, Shiva Chemist, NurdRage, FranklyChemistry, John Black Super Chemist, Hegelrast.. so many others, too. Have fun with your Copper Sulfate experiment, if you choose to do that! Be careful, wear gloves, and goggles too.

VSEPR_VOID - 27-10-2017 at 18:47

Get a Chemistry Text Book!

Nothing is more important than reading material. A forum and YouTube videos can not come close to competing. I would recommend looking though Piratebay for some good chemistry text books but thrift shops often have some books in stock. Reading them will help you understand the smaller concepts that are more important than you might think such as ph and dissociation.

Keep track of what you want to do and what you have done. Keep a lab note book. To do this you can use any note book but I recommend this one:https://www.amazon.com/Scientific-Notebook-Company-Trimmed-Laboratory/dp/0984516328/ref=sr_1_19?s=office-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1509158444&a mp;sr=1-19&keywords=lab+notebook&refinements=p_36%3A1000-2000

Always write in pen, cross out mistakes, keep track of what reagents you use, your procedure. The only difference between science and screwing around is writing down what you are doing and the results. Being accurate and careful is a must.

Remember that its always better to spend more money for a good product once, than to have to purchase faulty equipment multiple times. This is important to remember for buying ground glassware. To start I would recommend the following

A cheep hotplate from wallmart
A set of beakers and flasks from 100ml to 500/600ml
Gloves
Evaporating dishes
graduated cylinder 100ml plastic
Lots of jars, bottles, and containers
a pocket scale from amazon or ebay
a large dish for putting beakers in for water/ice baths

Start with the following projects

Copper acetate
copper carbonate
copper sulfate crystals
copper crystals
copper chloride
copper ammonia complexes
iron sulfate
iron chloride
iron oxide
potassium chlorate
ammonium nitrate (Nerd rage had a good video on this)
Zinc plating pennies
Nitric acid (Outside/fumehood)
Chloroform (Outside/fumehood)
concentrating ethyl/isopropyl alcohol
Diethyl ether from starting fluid (Outside/fumehood)
Caffeine extraction
Steam distillation
chromatography of marker dyes
ethyl acetate to sodium acetate
Acetic acid (Outside/fumehood)
Titration (I highly recommend this, you will use it to determine the concentration of the acids/bases you make)
Highlighter extractions
potassium nitrate recrystallization
Bromine water (Outside/fumehood)

[Edited on 28-10-2017 by VSEPR_VOID]

[Edited on 28-10-2017 by VSEPR_VOID]

NEMO-Chemistry - 27-10-2017 at 20:01

If you do aga's experiment, add into it a little extra. Grab some Red cabbage, boil some to buggery until you get a red liquid. Cool it down and filter it.

This liquid acts like a PH indicator, test the vinegar in test tube thats got a few drops of the liquid added and do the same with the baking soda. NOTE downt your obs and then do the same with some the product you get from adding the Acetic acid to Sodium Bicarbonate.

Again write it all down.

Growing crystals, if you want to stay in the parent zone for a bit (food safe stuff), then get hold of pure sea salt or aquarium tonic salt, dont use normal table salt. Use that to grow crystals, add a bit of food colour to another set of the same stuff

.

Getting the parents onside = glassware for Christmas and Birthdays, getting parents upset with bangs and smells at the start ends your adventure pretty quickly.

What country you in?

[Edited on 28-10-2017 by NEMO-Chemistry]

VSEPR_VOID - 27-10-2017 at 20:13

https://www.homesciencetools.com/product/chemistry-equipment...

This was my first glassware purchase. I believe that I was 12 or 13 years of age.

[Edited on 28-10-2017 by VSEPR_VOID]

The Volatile Chemist - 27-10-2017 at 20:30

Welcome to the forum!

As many have said before, I started (being serious about) home-chemistry at about 15. I stopped with the mindless mixing of chemicals and started learning the science behind what I had previously found fun. I'm now 18 and going to a university for a degree in Chemistry. It's fun!

I second the stuff about copper chemistry. Copper(ii) sulfate crystals are great, you can make (basic*) copper(ii) carbonate with baking soda, and then copper(ii) acetate from that with vinegar.

Some quick notes -
Doing chemistry without much equipment is very feasible. It just requires patience. So don't expect immediate results, and you will be rewarded with your efforts. You don't necessarily need a way to heat things right away. You don't necessarily need a way to filter things right away.

You can use cleaned-up jam jars and other glass food containers for beakers, and extra coffee filters with rubber bands on top of your jars to filter things. Don't think badly about your parents if/when they are unreasonable because they don't understand the science behind what you're doing. Just clear your experiments with them, use household items, and be patient with them - I had to wait till I was 16 before they let me buy any strong acids, for example.

Use cooking/eating items only with chemicals that are made to be eaten - potassium hydrogen tartrate (cream of tarter), sodium hydrogen carbonate (baking soda), dilute acetic acid (vinegar), etc.

Ease your parents into your hobby - mine were always dubious, it seemed. But after a few years, they got used to me being 'down in the lab' some wintery Saturday afternoon. Exhaust what you are able to do with the supplies you have. If that means all you can do is make a solution of sodium acetate right now, and can't even cook it down - so be it. You can set it aside and let it crystallize down over a month. If all you can do is make copper(ii) carbonate, so be it. Have fun doing whatever you're able to do, and look forward to when you're able to convince your parents to let you buy a few reagents. I guess my point here is that it's easy to look at what other amateur chemists are doing (perhaps even some at your age) and wish you were able to do those things. But there will always be that. I've begun to learn that with whatever you have, you can usually come up with new experiment ideas to try out. Believe me, it just gets harder when you have more reagents to choose from

My parents always respected a book source for an experiment more than online sources, and would often want me to find an experiment in a book to do so they knew I wasn't just making it up and so that it would be safe. If that's what's necessary, your local library should have some books that list experiments with household reagents.

It's so very easy to make chemistry a chore. You *do* have to be diligent, do the math, be safe, and clean up afterwards, but it should be fun and worth it to you, even if an experiment doesn't work. If there ever is a time where this isn't the case, then take a break.

Finally, find some stuff you like to do. I like biological- and food- related chemistry, like extracting lactose or caffeine, or fermentation, purifying reagents from various biological sources like asparagus or lemons, steam distilling cinnamaldehyde from cinnamon, etc.; I like collecting various-colored salts of copper and other metals; and I like crystallizing stuff. Figure out why you like doing home chemistry (those are my reasons), and do it!

Have fun. If you ever need advice or suggestions for what to do next, send me a U2U.
Nathan P1mental

Tsjerk - 27-10-2017 at 23:55

Have a look at Woelen's website! Everything there, from beginners to more advanced, well explained and including the safety procedures applicable.

Diachrynic - 28-10-2017 at 00:01

Another super-simple experiment to show your parents might be the following:

Get some ink cartridges for fountain pens. Those blue ones.

Next, get some sodium carbonate (Na₂CO₃) and some vinegar or citric acid.

Take a small amount of water (maybe 5 ml) and drip some ink in there. It should be blue.

If you now add some carbonate, it should slowly turn red. This works even better with sodium hydroxide, but be aware of the heat.

You can reverse this by adding an acid, citric acid and vinegar should be very available. It gets blue again. If you used the carbonate it will bubble.

This might be a basic (pun intended) little experiment with household stuff, which doesn't require much equipment or time.

BlackDragon2712 - 28-10-2017 at 01:08

Oh the good old times haha, I started amateur chemistry at 15 as well... never told my parents, they did realize on their own eventually but they never got into wandering what the hell I was doing... except when there were awful smells involved, then they would get very paranoid about it. My mum was very supportive though, bought me a lot of my lab equipment I just could not afford.
I was really into making inorganic nitrates to see which one would burn the best when mixed with sugar… then I tried making some complexes with copper, Tetraamminecopper(II) sulfate and Copper(II) dichloroisocyanurate. Then I got into organics, trying to make some copper aspirinate, acetamide, ethyl iodide, chloroform, iodoform, etc. Also compound extractions like vanillin from vanilla extract, amygdalin from apricot seeds, caffeine from coffee, isolation of aspirin, piracetam, ibuprofen, paracetamol, etc.
So much fun, sad that I don’t have the time I used to back then! Freaking college…

LearnedAmateur - 28-10-2017 at 01:25

VSEPR_VOID: A great list for beginner chemists, but I have a problem with a few suggestions.

Ammonium nitrate - yes, it's safe and easy to make but it is still an explosive at the end of the day so care must be taken, it's more of an intermediate level project. I guess it can be a beginner project if everything is kept at room temperature, but the next common step (thermal decomposition to N2O) requires a lot more care.

Nitric acid - no matter how you make it, there will always be danger involved hence this is something to do once the basics are covered and there's a proper workspace. I managed to colour a patch of my blue shoe red, destroy a rug, and almost gassed myself through making it which could've easily ended up with my death or at least a week or two of breathing problems

Chloroform - again, working with dangerous reagents, although NaOH isn't too bad as a solid. Breathing in and being intoxicated on the vapour whilst doing chemistry could easily lead to mistakes and spills, something which parents aren't too happy about especially if things get ruined, plus the negative connotations of the compound may dissuade them further.

Diethyl ether - another intoxicating compound, plus there's the risk of explosive peroxide formation if pure and stored for a long period of time. I've been doing amateur chemistry for several years now and still refuse to make it, mainly because of the extreme fire risk.

I know that for the above you mentioned to do it outside or in a fume hood, but I remember when I got stuck into the organic syntheses and on occasion, I would have quite a blasé attitude about mixing stuff together. I once made chloroform from ethanol and calcium hypochlorite, and when the temperature went up so did the vapour. Got out of the garage pretty fast (it had an open bit at the back so ventilation was good), but I did learn my lesson on safety pretty fast after that.

Bromine water - at a low concentration it's fine, I remember doing bond saturation tests quite early on in my school chemistry courses. Albeit, bromine is horrible for your body and I'd recommend this as one to play around with once some experience is gained.
---
One of my first home chemistry experiments was the extraction of salts from ash since we used our fireplace a lot. Potassium and sodium carbonate are the main ones, but there will also be some chlorides, sulphates, and certain calcium/magnesium salts. This is a great way to learn about qualitative testing procedures, since there will be a small range of ions - carbonates are tested with vinegar, chlorides with AgNO3, and sulphates with BaCl2, a positive result being fizzing, and for the latter two, white precipitates. Acquiring these reagents might be an issue though, I know it was at the time for me so I didn't I anything further after crystallisation.

[Edited on 28-10-2017 by LearnedAmateur]

Melgar - 28-10-2017 at 03:38

Chemistry is a great subject to learn, because for the other sciences, you typically need to know a lot of advanced math (calculus or statistics) in order to analyze data that you collect. With chemistry, it's much more focused on observation (the fun part!) as opposed to the math (the boring part), not to mention at 15 you probably haven't taken calculus or statistics yet. Most of the chemistry math is just algebra, which you probably already know pretty well.

So remember the scientific method, and use it! Especially if you observe something happening that is different from what you expected. State a hypothesis. Design an experiment to test your hypothesis. Do the experiment and observe the results. Conclude whether or not the results agreed with your hypothesis.

ELRIC - 28-10-2017 at 04:30

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Khan Academy

If you have an iPhone, go to the App Store, and search for Khan academy

chemistry 1. There are many more of the same series, but if this is all new to you,

then start with the first video. I'm pretty sure the vids are sequenced in much

the same way as a text book is.

Have fun
Be safe
LEARN!

Also, it's important not to do like me and Tetra lol! I did the same thing as tetra,

but I jumped straight into organic chemistry. I knew some chem, but not enough

of the basics. I've learned a lot, but have found that I need to start all over

from the beginning. Oh well, I'm enjoying the learning process anyway.

Sometimes, the "borring" stuff turns out not to be so boring after all.

Hindsight, you know

[Edited on 28-10-2017 by ELRIC]

DionSukhram6 - 28-10-2017 at 13:04

I'm actually 15 (almost 16 though) too! It wasn't too difficult to get my parents to let me do some amateur chemistry in the house since I've already taken AP Chemistry and several other classes with high grades in all of them(I think that really helps with the convincing part) so they agreed to give me a few hundred dollars per year to buy chemicals and equipment along with however much of my own money I want to spend. It shouldn't be a problem as long as you learn everything first and I also try to explain everything that I buy or do and I've been doing it for about the last year. I started by just playing with some really common simple chemicals, like have already been suggested but I've been starting to get into more complex stuff like complicated organic syntheses. I think one of the most fun things though is probably making or purifying your own basic chemicals then using those to do more complicated things later. A few good sources would be just like hardware stores or even in grocery stores for common things, but you might also want to look on eBay or for pottery suppliers since they often have tons of chemicals, even pretty uncommon ones, for very low prices that you can use to make a bunch of other, more useful compounds. The most important think to keep in mind probably is to remember that we can't get everything we would like to while we're still pretty young so i would recommend just setting up a small space and getting only the things that are absolutely essential first because you can always do more later.

18thTimeLucky - 28-10-2017 at 15:19

Well you now have a few months' worth of advice, reaganf! Sorry if we are overloading you but like I said everybody is friendly here and want to give their advice as they remember how they journeyed into chemistry. You don't find a home chemist who isn't passionate about what they do! We would love to see any experiments you do if we have not scared you off yet. Also if you do not mind answering, like NEMO-Chemistry asked, what country do you live in as this gives us some idea on the laws in your area (e.g. extracting red phosphorus from match boxes is easy and fun but (tell me if I am wrong) it is illegal to own red phosphorus in America but here in the UK it is legal.

Okay, sorry, I'll leave you be now, reaganf!

The clocks are going backward so I'm going to go spend the extra hour purifying some activated charcoal I found in pill form at a shop (why would anybody take this?!?!).

[Edited on 28-10-2017 by 18thTimeLucky?]

NEMO-Chemistry - 28-10-2017 at 16:43

One note on equipment, the most important equipment to get first is personal protection in the form of eye protection. Burns on hands and fingers hurt, but not normally life changing. But it dosnt take much to take your sight away, and that really ruins alot of transition metal chemistry

.

Seriously though, condensers look cool but personal protection equipment sends all the right signals and gives you many years doing chemistry. I am only 17, i am risk adverse. Alot of my over caution has come from reading some the horrs within this forum, people your age who didnt get any older.

People older who cant do much chemistry, because a single mistake changed there lives. Chemistry is perfectly safe if you have the correct protection and correct mind set. I also second Woelens site!! It shows just how much fun small scale can be, you can keep your parents amazed for hours really safely.

Rhodanide - 30-10-2017 at 11:59

Quote: Originally posted by NEMO-Chemistry

One note on equipment, the most important equipment to get first is personal protection in the form of eye protection. Burns on hands and fingers hurt, but not normally life changing. But it dosnt take much to take your sight away, and that really ruins alot of transition metal chemistry

I second this.

CharlieA - 30-10-2017 at 16:50

I heartedly agree that safety in the laboratory is a prime consideration. The minimum, in my opinion, should b safety eyeglasses, a fire extinguisher, and a safety shield (which you can make from a sheet of polycarbonate - not plexiglass - plastic. But the most important safety equipment is your brain, asking and answering some of the following questions:

what do I do in the case of fire?
what do I do if I get something on my skin? in my eye(s)?
what do I do if something explodes? (this should happen only very rarely if you have done your homework)

Chemistry is fascinating, but is not just adding A to B in some random fashion. A good chemist has a very good idea of what to expect when he adds A to B, and thus can anticipate most likely outcomes. At your age, I strongly repeat my above recommendation concerning studying qualitative inorganic analytical chemistry. Such a study would be a great way to structure your adventures into chemistry on a small scale while minimizing costs and danger, yet introducing you to a great amount of chemistry.
Good luck

crystal grower - 31-10-2017 at 00:09

Also never forget to have proper ventilation. Even though you may thing gases you are dealing with are quite "safe".
Chronic exposure really sucks.

mackolol - 1-11-2017 at 13:03

I think that growing crystals for beginning leads to nothing. Making complexes is something more but still not much. I think that You should start making easy syntheses because only way to learn how to treat with chemicals such like acids or organic compounds are to treat with them. As long as you are follow safety rules and know what You do it shouldnt do much to You. Unless you dont have any plans and want to do few interesting reactions.

AJKOER - 1-11-2017 at 14:09

Things you and your family should known up front. Invest in safety gear to protect your lungs and a face mask to reduce the risk of chemical burns. Good gloves and lab coat to reduce risk of poisoning yourself. A blast shield is a good idea.

Also, check out the legality of labs in your particular state. If prohibited, this could impair the nature and amount of investment in standard lab equipment.

But most important, as there are various concerns about illegal drug manufacture, equipment purchase, for example, could trigger a visit from local police. Strongly advise a lab book recording all experiments, a clean lab area and very important, label all compounds. Failure to do the latter can (depending on your jurisdiction) be a serious violation (in essence, a way to legally arrest suspected drug cooks). If you happen to create any energetic compounds (possible explosive), you must use or destroy the compound as they can only legally be stored in a magazine (a bunker).

Avoid making very smelly compounds if you have neighbors!

If you do get into trouble, my experience with jury service suggests that relying on even a rationale assessment of your situation is not that likely. My personal observation is that most jurists cannot wait to go home, do not pay attention to evidence, are quick to judge based on personal prejudices (race, family members employed by police or harmed by the police, being or related to a crime victim, recollection of TV shows,....), so avoid juries, get a good lawyer (requires with bail a lot of money) and a fair judge.

[Edited on 1-11-2017 by AJKOER]

VSEPR_VOID - 2-11-2017 at 12:23

I agree with AJKOER safety gear is well worth the cost. Buy a good respirator and splash resistant mask/googles. I had the misfortune of inhaling a full breath of chlorine. I felt as if I was underwater and each breath was filled with pain. After that I made it a point to keep a gas mask near my work space. Well your hands can take a beating from acid or burns your lungs and eyes are much more sensitive, never let harm come to them.

Rhodanide - 3-11-2017 at 05:28

I had the misfortune of inhaling a full breath of chlorine. I felt as if I was underwater and each breath was filled with pain.

Try Chloramine...
And Nitrogen Dioxide...
Both are worse, don't mess with them!
I use an M-10M FFGM, and have had the same filters for two years. I'm terrified to use it because I don't know if the filters are just all used up and I'm just inhaling all sorts of crap, but I don't realize it. Hopefully it isn't acting as a sort of Placebo!
You know, I think I should make a forum post on that 'cause it's really concerning me.

zed - 3-11-2017 at 16:07

Hnuh?

Fifteen years old, and you are not interested in explosives or anything extremely dangerous?

What's wrong with you? This doesn't sound normal.

Other than that, I suggest you study as much chemistry as possible at school.

It's even free!

NEMO-Chemistry - 3-11-2017 at 16:14

Quote: Originally posted by zed

Hnuh?

Fifteen years old, and you are not interested in explosives or anything extremely dangerous?

What's wrong with you? This doesn't sound normal.

Other than that, I suggest you study as much chemistry as possible at school.

It's even free!

Well he posted 4 times in one day then nothing, so i guess he was interested in things that go bang, or other risky experiments

.

What we think? Darwin chalk up?

CharlieA - 3-11-2017 at 17:16

Maybe he/she has discovered the opposite sex!

LearnedAmateur - 4-11-2017 at 07:05

I had the misfortune of inhaling a full breath of chlorine. I felt as if I was underwater and each breath was filled with pain.

Try Chloramine...
And Nitrogen Dioxide...
Both are worse, don't mess with them!

Oh yep, I had a small but concentrated release of NO2 a few months ago and suffered for about two weeks, felt like a real bad flu or bout of pneumonia. Couldn't sleep most of those nights because I was too busy coughing up gunk so top that with sleep deprivation. Nitric acid really does a number on your mucous membranes, and it affects you for a long time too, pretty sure it's still affecting my breathing to this day but I already had asthma so it's nothing I'm not used to.

[Edited on 4-11-2017 by LearnedAmateur]

mackolol - 4-11-2017 at 14:16

I dont know what are you saying. Some time ago i was making fuming nitric acid and distilling it. After all i took flask and put it on side. But later i opened it and accidentally took full breath of hot no2. I felt terrible but after hyperventilation it was quite good. The day after my lungs were allright. For me HCl or chlorine is worse.

Quaff - 7-11-2017 at 18:00

I'd suggest first to get aquainted with lab safety, and safe storage of even simple things. Good goggles and some sort of fume removal setup possibly necessary. Best is to work at HS chem lab. Put safety #1

Metals chemistry is really cool, you can make mirrors, refine precious metals, make homeopathic vitamins, electroplate gold and other metals, precipitate and manufacture catalytic metals as fine black powders such as what is in catalytic converters, and do experiments in the field of corrosion. Corrosion costs society billions of dollars a year !! Try to avoid working with mercury, it is a volatile neurotoxin and is easily inhaled.

A really good project might be to electrolyze water into hydrogen and oxygen in a round bottom flask equipped with a distillation condensor, inside of which is placed some platinum that is of such small size it appears black. The hydrogen and oxygen will combine to re-form water of the highest purity. CAVEAT is that mixtures of H2 and O2 are explosive, so the volume would need to be kept to a minimum and the gases reacted pretty quickly after their formation. Consult your teacher, I'm interested in this because I'm interested in the physical properties of extremely extremely pure H2O. Whatever you do, be careful and put safety first !!

VSEPR_VOID - 11-11-2017 at 03:21

Quote: Originally posted by CharlieA

Maybe he/she has discovered the opposite sex!

Wait? What? Do you mean those, "girls" people seem to always be talking about. They are just a urban myth!

reaganf - 13-11-2017 at 11:37

I'm back! Not dead yet, I've found a well ventilated lab space in our shed, parents said I could have a small corner to myself! (Big shed). Also, live in El Paso County Colorado, should give you a general idea of the laws I'll be dealing with, live in the country so nosy neighbors shouldn't be a problem, still trying to decide on a first experiment! So many to choose from! But still haven't discovered that mythical creature known as a "girl".

Rhodanide - 13-11-2017 at 11:56

But still haven't discovered that mythical creature known as a "girl".

Well, you're not alone in that regard by coming to a forum like this. I'd assume the vast majority of us are introverts. I know I sure am.

Diachrynic - 13-11-2017 at 12:47

But still haven't discovered that mythical creature known as a "girl".

Well, you're not alone in that regard by coming to a forum like this. I'd assume the vast majority of us are introverts. I know I sure am.

That makes two of us.

But seriously, getting turned down three times is enough. Doing it again would be the definition of insanity.

Anyway, it seems to be a common trend that scientists are likely to be introverted. I have no hard numbers though. *shrugging*

DraconicAcid - 13-11-2017 at 13:30

But still haven't discovered that mythical creature known as a "girl".

Well, you're not alone in that regard by coming to a forum like this. I'd assume the vast majority of us are introverts. I know I sure am.

That makes two of us.

But seriously, getting turned down three times is enough. Doing it again would be the definition of insanity.

*shakes head*, Why, when I was your age....

If you're fifteen, or in high school, fine- just give it time.

If you're an adult, then get online. There's dozens of dating sites- as long as you're honest in your description of yourself, the internet can connect you to people who may find you interesting. You're a scientist- you need a sample size of much larger than three before declaring that no women could ever be interested in you.

Diachrynic - 13-11-2017 at 13:42

Oh, I never said that no women could ever be interested in me. In fact, I established a relationship three times (which are the three times I mentioned).
However, none of those relationships were lasting. And getting rejected three times is... well, really discouraging.

It's the first one by the way.

Thank you for cheering me up. I am afraid though derailing the thread into off-topic-territory...

NEMO-Chemistry - 13-11-2017 at 14:07

Could you post up your lab notes on those experiments

aga - 13-11-2017 at 14:14

It is better to have Loved and lost than never to have Loved at all.

Electrons all say that.

18thTimeLucky - 14-11-2017 at 15:04

But still haven't discovered that mythical creature known as a "girl".

Well, you're not alone in that regard by coming to a forum like this. I'd assume the vast majority of us are introverts. I know I sure am.

That makes two of us.

But seriously, getting turned down three times is enough. Doing it again would be the definition of insanity.

Oh no, am I doing something wrong? I suddenly do not feel like a scientist anymore. I'm sure she would understand if I left her to become 'more like a chemist' though, she already knows she is second place in my life after my beautiful hotplate stirrer.

Rhodanide - 15-11-2017 at 10:16

Three times? If that's the case, you're thrice as confident as I am. Kudos!

gdflp - 16-11-2017 at 14:05

Let's keep this thread on topic everyone.

<b>Quaff</b>, don't continue to post off-topic nonsense after I've already pruned the thread.

DraconicAcid - 16-11-2017 at 14:12

When I was in high school, I was turned down by every girl I asked out. I had a girlfriend in my first year of college, and dated a few others (once or twice each- no more) over the course of the rest of my undergrad. In my grad studies, I had a few relationships that lasted a few months each, and long gaps between them. Got married, now divorced, and am still amazed at how easy it is to meet women online, even in a small town such as mine. Okay, it's not really easy, but compared to the years of my youth.....

My point? I don't have one- I'm just shaking my cane at you young punks, not knowing how good you've got it....

aga - 16-11-2017 at 14:36

LOL.

The fact that an offshoot of a simple request for information went off to Detritus is awesome.

Get a Life people, maybe do some Chemistry perhaps ?

(yes, i know i haven't done enough recently)

VSEPR_VOID - 16-11-2017 at 15:53

When I was in high school, I was turned down by every girl I asked out. I had a girlfriend in my first year of college, and dated a few others (once or twice each- no more) over the course of the rest of my undergrad. In my grad studies, I had a few relationships that lasted a few months each, and long gaps between them. Got married, now divorced, and am still amazed at how easy it is to meet women online, even in a small town such as mine. Okay, it's not really easy, but compared to the years of my youth.....

My point? I don't have one- I'm just shaking my cane at you young punks, not knowing how good you've got it....

I know that feel bro

Funny-bored-chemist-at-party-comic.jpg - 73kB

Texium - 16-11-2017 at 17:07

Heh. I'm not usually one to make long personal posts, but here goes nothing.

Although I've been interested in chemistry as long as I can remember, I started getting into amateur chemistry for real when I was 15, after my first relationship ended in a really drawn out and unpleasant way. It felt like several additional friends betrayed me around that time and I suddenly found myself in a rather dark and lonely place. I'd already been element collecting for a couple years, and naturally, needing a new distraction and something to pass the time I would've normally spent with friends, I started looking up procedures for isolation of elements that I couldn't just find laying around. My first actual experiment was isolation of bismuth metal from Pepto-Bismol, following the YouTube video by "TheChemLife" (now registered here as chironex). I soon found this forum, and lurked for a few months before joining.

To this day, I still find that my most active periods of chemical experimentation occur when I am feeling lonely or needing a break from my social life. Working in the home lab has a sort of therapeutic value for me. I'm sure I would have picked up some other hobby as my main interest if it hadn't been chemistry, but I'm really glad that I chose to pursue chemistry since it is rather unique, and has become part of my identity over the last several years.

I will say this though- if you are in high school right now and truly interested in chemistry, go for it. If you're wanting to major in chemistry in college, getting an early start, teaching yourself, and building lab experience at home is the best thing you can do. For me it opened up huge opportunities. I got into an organic chemistry research lab as a freshman, largely thanks to my experience with amateur chemistry (students are not normally expected to start in a research lab until their junior year, at least at my university). After working there for a year now, I'm already doing graduate level work. So, in closing- if you're just getting started, don't be afraid to start small and simple. As your experience grows and you build up a wider array of chemicals and equipment (this takes a long time, especially if you have parental restrictions), your abilities to carry out more complex experiments/reactions will too, and your specific interests will most likely change along with that. If you're doing it right, it will reward you in the future!

Rhodanide - 17-11-2017 at 05:57

I know that feel bro

That picture is my new favorite thing

_{thank you so much}

VSEPR_VOID - 18-11-2017 at 13:32