Banned Book - The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments

Thanks MFO

I was out looking for the real copy in the thrift stores around my area.

Keep your eye out too. There is a $700 bill sitting out there somewhere, and they dont even know about it.

Tech_Junkie said:

Thanks MFO

I was out looking for the real copy in the thrift stores around my area.

Keep your eye out too. There is a $700 bill sitting out there somewhere, and they dont even know about it.

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See if you can acquire one from your local library, that's your best bet haha. Just kidding, that would be really mean. I doubt you're going to find one though, I believe I read on the site before that only like 120 were printed.

Be careful of reprints!

Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments - rare - the Banned Book

Well I think if you bought one of the new ones and gave it to the library, they would probably thank you. :eg:

J/K too.

Hey TJ you sure about it being worth 700 bucks? Someone on ebay's selling it for 245

Golden Book Chemistry Experiments Revised Edition 1963 - eBay (item 370351240128 end time Apr-16-10 10:56:29 PDT)

Just going by what the site that the download originated said. $700-$800.

That one isn't in great condition. I'm sure the warped covers, and ware have a lot to do with $$.

Yeah no doubt. Things were cooler back then

Murudai said:

I'm a chemistry student at University, doing some serious experiments in the lab. A few days ago an experiment exploded a bottle of chemicals near some experiments, sending glass and chemicals everywhere. I was right near it, I was in acute shock for a day from the explosion and nausea from the chemical fumes. The girl actually working on the experiment at the time got first degree burns and her hands cut up by glass, she was promptly sent to hospital. The entire lab was shut down for days.

Safety first kids. If you don't know what's going on in the experiment and/or don't have the proper protection (if nothing else, use safety glasses) then you could get SERIOUSLY hurt. I've seen it happen right in front of my very eyes. Granted I work with far more dangerous chemicals than you guys will ever get your hands on, but still, the message still applies.

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A girl died in a lab accident at UCLA last year. A series of stupid mistakes in a fairly routine experiment. She was working with a pyrophoric (meaning a compound that ignites spontaneously in air, for those unfamiliar), and apparently wearing a polyester sweater with no flame-resistant lab coat, and there were apparently errors committed in the usage of the emergency shower. Tragic, but avoidable. Please follow all proper lab safety procedures.

The lab I'm in works with every kind of chemical hazard I can imagine, including pyrophoric gases, flammable metals, and some of the most toxic gases and liquids around. Precursors like trimethyl-gallium/indium/aluminum are liquids with high vapor pressures that are not only pryophoric, but are also poisonous and corrosive to human tissues, along with having poisonous byproducts. I also personally know someone who has gone into an emergency shower from HF exposure. Knowing what to do, with calcium gluconate etc, possibly saved her life.

Of course, I doubt any of these large hazards are going to be in the childrens' book,but I'm sure there's one or 2 experiments in there with a chance of going wrong somewhere along the way.

Handling chemicals of any kind, even the most harmless-looking, must always be done with much care and precaution. Even some mild household products sometimes can react together most vigorously!

With that said... if you do a search on the web for Georg Brauer's Handbook of inorganic chemistry, you'll find the downloadable PDF file (about 19 MB, 1906 pages!) ... that is the absolute bible of anything that has to do with one chemical interacting with another... Very very detailed and a good reference to know how stuff reacts and how to synthetize inorganic stuff.

Again, this is a reference book and maybe a bit over the top for hobby chemistry since it refers at times to extremely expensive and elaborate labware (like vacuum ovens and stuff) but better be safe than sorry. I occasionally do a bit of precious metals recycling and sometimes have to work with rather noxious and corrosive chemicals, and I often prepare cleaning solutions for plastics and metals.

Always experiment outside or under a laboratory hood. Always wear goggles and if there are any hints of danger to the skin, wear gloves.

Robert

this book si sfull of WIN. thankx for sharing
if u like books and dont like paying for em - u can try google ; click the books link on top and search away.

Who banned this book exactly, and in which country?

Information on how to perform even the most dangrous experiments is usually publicly available, perhaps you have to visit a good old university library to find it, or have a subscription if its in a magazine (even online). That's not a matter of bans though, just copyright protection.

I've just flicked through the pdf... looks innocent enough to me. Most of these experiments are fine for kids aged 12 and over, perhaps even a bit younger with supervision. There are plenty of nice ones in there that i did when i was 10 years old or so. We had books from the library with description in similar detail and experiments. I'm sure i must have messed up many of them, but never got even close to injury. I suppose the biggest risk of the whole thing is dropping the alcohol burner from the table and setting the house on fire - so do them in a shed instead

Crazy Jay said:

How quickly does chloroform knockout someone?

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Depends entirely on concentration, but it doesnt do what is displayed in the movies. Breathing though a chloroform soaked rag might put you out in tens of seconds.

If you just sniff the bottle, nothing will happen in terms of passing out or even getting dizzy, but the headache after a while surely is a true thing. I have worked in chloroform and methanol/chloroform mixtures in the lab often enough. Even if you dont work in a fumehood (which you should) the vapour from a couple of open vials don't do anything but smell bad.

Chloroform, and more notably, ether, were used as aneasthetics in the distant past, but that required continous breathing of pretty high concentrations. They were abandoned because of health problems for the patients (and fire hazards with ether), but keep in mind that back in those days, the doctors were working on a patient that exhaled the stuff right into the operation area, without much ill effect to them.

digital_blue said:

Oh please, the amount of chlorine gas produced is stupidly low; unless you're an idiot and intentionally inhale it for hours, it will burn your nose at most. If you've ever tried sniffing really strong hot sauce, the sensation is comparable.

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Chlorine gas knocked me on my ass. Was doing an experiment in making it when I was younger and was successful. I opened the small jar and took a small whiff and WOW it burned like hell for about 30 min straight. Funny thing was it was Thanksgiving and it completely knocked out my sense of smell for about 6 hours too, but I managed to get it back just in time for the food, haha.

I made chlorine gas via electrolysis of molten salt; I tried to sniff it and it burned like hell... Great for clearing sinuses though I once managed to create HF gas by accident, extremely nasty stuff...

Benm said:

Depends entirely on concentration, but it doesnt do what is displayed in the movies. Breathing though a chloroform soaked rag might put you out in tens of seconds.

If you just sniff the bottle, nothing will happen in terms of passing out or even getting dizzy, but the headache after a while surely is a true thing. I have worked in chloroform and methanol/chloroform mixtures in the lab often enough. Even if you dont work in a fumehood (which you should) the vapour from a couple of open vials don't do anything but smell bad.

Chloroform, and more notably, ether, were used as aneasthetics in the distant past, but that required continous breathing of pretty high concentrations. They were abandoned because of health problems for the patients (and fire hazards with ether), but keep in mind that back in those days, the doctors were working on a patient that exhaled the stuff right into the operation area, without much ill effect to them.

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Cool. Chloroform reminds me of two movies. 1. Ace Ventura and 2. PJ's king kong.

Got to watch those again

ace ventura LOL.

WARNING : ASSHOLES IN MIRROR CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR.