X-Post: Where do you do chemistry?

[swimmermom3]

For those of you who are currently playing with corrosive chemicals, where do you do chemistry? Our chemistry book says not to do experiments in the kitchen or dining room. However, I need a heat-resistant surface, a sink, and good ventilation. That's exactly what's in my kitchen. I have a large island, free of obstructions. I make sure the counters and sink are clear and I wipe everything down afterwards.

 

Side note: I did have an enthusiastic 20yo male clerk at Walgreen's ask me if I needed an extra chemistry student. I'd like to think it is my stunning good looks. However, it was more likely my purchase of ethyl alcohol, rubber gloves, and a fire extinguisher.

 

Extra side note: I don't suppose the same area would work for dissections at the end of the year?

[Nicole M]

I don't know.... I'm pretty sure it was your stunning good looks. :D

 

I don't understand where they want you to do your experiments if they tell you not the kitchen or dining room. Garage, maybe? I have a rule: No one blows up my kitchen. Hence, I outsource for all blowing-up type courses. I will be interested to hear what other say.

[swimmermom3]

I don't know.... I'm pretty sure it was your stunning good looks. :D

 

I don't understand where they want you to do your experiments if they tell you not the kitchen or dining room. Garage, maybe? I have a rule: No one blows up my kitchen. Hence, I outsource for all blowing-up type courses. I will be interested to hear what other say.

 

Sheeesh Nicole! No guts, no glory. (Or is that no guts, all gory for biology?) Of course, you do get to keep your kitchen by outsourcing the dangerous stuff. Me? I am still aiming for that kitchen remodel.

[Nicole M]

Sheeesh Nicole! No guts, no glory. (Or is that no guts, all gory for biology?) Of course, you do get to keep your kitchen by outsourcing the dangerous stuff. Me? I am still aiming for that kitchen remodel.

 

Well. I am married to a man who has no problem with the duct tape that has been on our floor for 13 years -- on the seam between our vinyl floor in the kitchen and the wood floor in the next room. The cat has been scratching at the tape, and my husband casually mentioned that he needed to replace it. "They have pretty fancy duct tape now! Patterns and everything."

 

If I blew up the kitchen, there would be no remodel. Not in my lifetime, anyway.

[Sharon in MD]

I do it, or did it, all in the kitchen, with one exception. When my ds had to mix down pure hcl I made him do it out side, just in case. I had a bucket of water and baking soda handy.

 

I was worried about my really nice quartz counters so I used a heavy duty rubber mat to cover it.

 

Heck yeah I dissected everything in there too....and yes, my freezer is still full of bugs waiting to be mounted by the now freshman away at college.

 

Go for it!!!!

and I'd invite the second student just for fun!

[swimmermom3]

Sharon, this is exactly what I want to hear. We are having a great time with our science adventures. I have done stuff I would never have considered or been interested in before home schooling. I just figure what my mom doesn't know about what goes on in my kitchen won't hurt her.

[specialmama]

I....and yes, my freezer is still full of bugs waiting to be mounted by the now freshman away at college.

 

 

 

OK... bear in mind this is coming from someone who had her children at home, and had the placentas in the freezer for a few years... yes, I questioned every single pot roast... so, bugs, huh? In your freezer? Like, big icky ones or witto bitty ones? Is this what I have to look forward to? Blowing up the kitchen and inviting checkout boys over for the afternoon sounds kind of interesting and may give me something to look forward to. But... bugs in my freezer? Say it ain't so! :svengo:

[Susan C.]

For chemistry, we put the burner on the flat top stove because it is heat resistant, didn't know the stove was on.... the solution boiled very quickly :) We got it off in time, no harm done.

[Sharon in MD]

OK... bear in mind this is coming from someone who had her children at home, and had the placentas in the freezer for a few years... yes, I questioned every single pot roast... so, bugs, huh? In your freezer? Like, big icky ones or witto bitty ones? Is this what I have to look forward to? Blowing up the kitchen and inviting checkout boys over for the afternoon sounds kind of interesting and may give me something to look forward to. But... bugs in my freezer? Say it ain't so! :svengo:

 

I love the idea of having to check to make sure...is that mine...or the cow's....

 

Regarding bugs...or insects shall I say...don't bother to freeze interesting spiders...they just crunch in on themselves. Praying Mantises should be dealt with in a killing jar if you want to mount and display them...rather than the deep freeze because they can survive the freeze. It is not pleasant to try to pin something that is alive.. (no I haven't really had to deal with that)

And butterfly antennae are awfully fragile....think super glue and tweezers....'nuff said????

 

What I really love about it is the expression on frustrating family member's faces when you ask them to get the ice cream out of the freezer....It is wicked good...:lol:

 

By the way, I live in MD and I had the "pleasure" of finding a lovely black widow that I caught and kept in a jar for about a week....it was,seriously, a great educational moment for all of us....who would have expected to find that in suburban dc...outside on the sliding glass patio door....???

 

Homeschooling is the adventure of a lifetime!

[Kareni]

After all that witty repartee, I feel quite dull saying that my daughter did her Chemistry experiments in the kitchen. Of course, she did use the MicroChem Kit which is not exactly full of highly dangerous ingredients!

 

Regards,

Kareni

[asta]

After all that witty repartee, I feel quite dull saying that my daughter did her Chemistry experiments in the kitchen. Of course, she did use the MicroChem Kit which is not exactly full of highly dangerous ingredients!

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

Yeah - we started Quality Science Lab's Advanced Micro Chem Lab thing yesterday and kid was kind of depressed that there was nothing to blow up.

 

But he was pretty happy when mom burned herself on a chemical because she hadn't put on gloves (soap! you need soap! it's a base!)

 

I promised him that, if the entire program had nothing blow up-able, we'd find something to blow up.

 

We used the kitchen table with a garbage bag. Probably won't do that with the blow up stuff... :smilielol5:

 

a

[Jane in NC]

Sharon, this is exactly what I want to hear. We are having a great time with our science adventures. I have done stuff I would never have considered or been interested in before home schooling. I just figure what my mom doesn't know about what goes on in my kitchen won't hurt her.

 

Well we have outsourced chemistry to the CC, but previous work with a microchem kit was indeed performed in the kitchen. Most biology work was done either in the kitchen or occasionally out on the back deck on a nice day.

 

When we were testing local waters for fecal coliform, my son had to incubate samples in tubes which we kept in his bathroom.

 

Then there was the day I brought home a pufferfish from my beach walk for my son to dissect--not knowing that this is the second most poisonous vertebrate. Of course my son claimed I was trying to kill him. "Where is your sense of adventure?" I asked. We read about here the macho culture of eating and surviving pufferfish sushi in Japan. Needless to say, the puffer was not dissected in the kitchen, bathroom or on the deck. He was allowed to decompose whole.

 

Jane

Edited October 23, 2009 by Jane in NC

[Kareni]

Then there was the day I brought home a pufferfish from my beach walk for my son to dissect--not knowing that this is the second most poisonous vertebrate. Of course my son claimed I was trying to kill him. "Where is your sense of adventure?" I asked. We read about here the macho culture of eating and surviving pufferfish sushi in Japan. Needless to say, the puffer was not dissected in the kitchen, bathroom or on the deck. He was allowed to decompose whole.

 

 

I can just imagine the news paper article --

 

Nosy neighbor reports last words she heard were, "Stop your bellyaching, Kiddo. No one ever died from doing a dissection!"

 

Regards,

Kareni

[asta]

I can just imagine the news paper article --

 

Nosy neighbor reports last words she heard were, "Stop your bellyaching, Kiddo. No one ever died from doing a dissection!"

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

Oh man, that would be what someone would hear around here...

 

 

a

[Julie of KY]

I'm doing the Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments and I'm doing them in the garage. For years I've done other chemstry experiments in the kitchen, but with this book everything is being done in the garage. I don't want concentrated acids/bases and certain chemicals that are likely to stain in my kitchen. Also we are using burners and flames quite a bit. I bought a portable kitchen burner to use in the garage. There are a few experiments we only do outside because of the fumes.

 

I'll happily dissect anything in my kitchen.

[Jane in NC]

Lisa,

 

Did I ever tell you about the Popular Science book from the '30's that I found at a library book sale which shows how to build your own lab equipment including a Bunsen burner and suggests fun things to do with mercury? The Chemical Heritage Foundation has a Flickr page with photos from this book. (Click here.) These old volumes always leave me wondering about safety in the old days when kids had fun (and maybe lost a finger or two in the process).

 

Jane

[Storm Bay]

After all that witty repartee, I feel quite dull saying that my daughter did her Chemistry experiments in the kitchen. Of course, she did use the MicroChem Kit which is not exactly full of highly dangerous ingredients!

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

This is what we're doing. However, our house is less than three years old and I'm not interested in anything dangerous being done here. However, I hope to outsource her AP Chem course to a CC if I can so she can try the more dangerous stuff there. Carefully, I trust.

 

I'm fresh out of witty repartee.

[swimmermom3]

No witty repartee required. I'm glad to know that most of you opt for the kitchen. I really couldn't figure out where we were going to conduct the experiments if we didn't use the kitchen. I am getting a rubber mat for the hardwoods for where we stand. Now, that the kids are older, it's also time to purchase some counter stools as Swimmer Dude stands right at inhalation height when we do our experiments. I figure as long as we read directions, wear our protective gear, and stay away from puffer fish:lol:, we'll be just fine.

 

However, I've been thinking about the bugs in the freezer and dissection specimens. My 14 yo teen boy cooks. He's not very selective about what he cooks. :tongue_smilie:This could get interesting.

[Storm Bay]

No witty repartee required. I'm glad to know that most of you opt for the kitchen. I really couldn't figure out where we were going to conduct the experiments if we didn't use the kitchen. I am getting a rubber mat for the hardwoods for where we stand. Now, that the kids are older, it's also time to purchase some counter stools as Swimmer Dude stands right at inhalation height when we do our experiments. I figure as long as we read directions, wear our protective gear, and stay away from puffer fish:lol:, we'll be just fine.

 

However, I've been thinking about the bugs in the freezer and dissection specimens. My 14 yo teen boy cooks. He's not very selective about what he cooks. :tongue_smilie:This could get interesting.

 

What are Swimmer Dude stands?

[April in CA]

Hi Karin,

I think Swimmer Dude is Lisa's son! So he stands at inhalation height...I got a good chuckle when I read your post!

But, on to the topic at hand - we re doing our chemistry experiments that require flame outside on the Fridays that my husband is off. He is having fun and so are the boys! Last week we burned chemical salts to see the colors (our little spectroscope didn't get a good reading on them, so no bright line spectra, but the colors were pretty! DH even stripped some copper wire to flame so the guys could see sthe blue green color since all our chloride salts produced warm colors.) A few weeks ago we sere comparing physical and chemical changes and created a magnificent stink with iron sulfide. I was profoundly grateful that THAT was done outside! Other things are done in the kitchen, including dissections (which the guys enjoy, sometimes way too much!).

Blessings,

April

[swimmermom3]

Lisa,

 

Did I ever tell you about the Popular Science book from the '30's that I found at a library book sale which shows how to build your own lab equipment including a Bunsen burner and suggests fun things to do with mercury? The Chemical Heritage Foundation has a Flickr page with photos from this book. (Click here.) These old volumes always leave me wondering about safety in the old days when kids had fun (and maybe lost a finger or two in the process).

 

Jane

 

Jane, my boys would love a book like that. Reminds of my youngest uncle who was certain that all boys needed were a bunch of plastic army men, rubber bands, and matches.

[AnitaMcC]

We are outsourcing science to the community college-LOL. I am not gutsy!!! Science is fun... but not in my house-LOL.

[Storm Bay]

Hi Karin,

I think Swimmer Dude is Lisa's son! So he stands at inhalation height...I got a good chuckle when I read your post!

Blessings,

April

:blush: That makes sense, of course, but for some reason I just didn't pick up on that. I may have known that in the past, and given Lisa's moniker ought to have put 2 and 2 together. Glad to have given you a good chuckle, however, because my response was pretty funny given what you just said ;).

[Sharon in MD]

However, I've been thinking about the bugs in the freezer and dissection specimens. My 14 yo teen boy cooks. He's not very selective about what he cooks. :tongue_smilie:This could get interesting.

 

What's this.....crunchy on the outside yet squishy on the inside....

 

Hey, I lived in a third world country for a couple years...you would be surprised at the little kiosk delicacies.

[Sharon in MD]

you do need a lab kit that tells you how to dispose of stuff. I do like the kit we purchased from Thames and Kosmos on Amazon...they give good, specific instructions on what can go in the trash, down the drain or requires special handling...this does matter, really.

[swimmermom3]

you do need a lab kit that tells you how to dispose of stuff. I do like the kit we purchased from Thames and Kosmos on Amazon...they give good, specific instructions on what can go in the trash, down the drain or requires special handling...this does matter, really.

 

Sharon, I have the Thames and Kosmos Chem C2000. I am very glad for those disposal instructions. My ds is loving the kit. My only complaint would be that sometimes the concepts aren't clear. It was part of Noeo Chem. III. I've changed things around so they make more sense. Noeo starts with Chemical Reactions while you are doing experiments with acids and bases. So we're reading the Acids and Bases book now instead. I'd like to follow the same order of topics as he would for high school but it's not working out that way. We blew through two years of science standards last year so we have the luxury of doing whatever we want this year.

[Storm Bay]

you do need a lab kit that tells you how to dispose of stuff. I do like the kit we purchased from Thames and Kosmos on Amazon...they give good, specific instructions on what can go in the trash, down the drain or requires special handling...this does matter, really.

 

This is why I'm happy to do something mild and timid like Microchem, which is all so dilute I can rinse it down the drain. However, I'm going to make a note of ones that have disposal instructions in case we end up needed to do something less wimpy in the future. (In my kitchen, I prefer wimpy!)

[bugs]

We use Thames and Kosmos Chem C2000 as well but my kitchen isn't super big. I have a sink in the laundry room. We set up two sawhorses and a piece of plywood and "presto", our lab. It's stable, I have a door that goes directly outside in case of toxic fumes, and a door to keep the dog from being nosey.

 

I use the PH Science Explorers books but have not bothered reconciling those lessons with the experiments.

[Sharon in MD]

We didn't feel safe about using our laundry room area for chem because it is in the basement, not well ventilated and the gas furnace is only, may 8 feet away from the sink and about 5 feet from what would be the edge of the chemistry area.....way too close for potentially volatile fumes!

 

So I opted for the kitchen, with the big sliding glass doors, vent fan and the option of opening every window on that floor as well.

 

In a perfect world, we could have hoods and bunsen burners...in reality it's a ceiling fan and the electric stove top or alcohol burner.

[Pippen]

We used the kitchen table with a garbage bag. Probably won't do that with the blow up stuff... :smilielol5:

 

a

 

We're not doing much in the way of chem yet (just a 5th grade unit) but I always have messy labs and projects done on an old cafeteria tray. Been doing this since they were little--they're not too expensive and easy to take to the sink or hose to clean up.