tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post9171028489956586860..comments2024-03-19T03:14:04.172-04:00Comments on Rabett Run: Head bangersEliRabetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07957002964638398767noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-66937154256525079462011-03-11T22:01:37.927-05:002011-03-11T22:01:37.927-05:00I grew up in an old farm house with a small glass ...I grew up in an old farm house with a small glass globe hanging on the wall near the coalstove in the kitchen. It was full of carbon tetrachloride. In the event of a fire the metal circle holding the globe was supposed to expand so the globe would fall and break and hopefully the carbon tet would douse the flames. Somebody in the family removed it when they learned that it was kind of poisonous and maybe a smoke detector would be better.Holly Stickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01137842937086115228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-61245255371739797812009-10-03T17:07:25.786-04:002009-10-03T17:07:25.786-04:00No stories that I can recall, exccept a data point...No stories that I can recall, exccept a data point on mercury use in schools, ie that around 1990 in edinburgh our physics teacher swirled mercury around with his hands, saying he could touch it but we weren't, and that he wasn't mad yet. We were also allowed to pour mercury into a beaker and pour water on top as a demonstration of different densities. A very good demonstration. Mind you this was the sort of class they let us use transformers and if you connected them up wrong the plastic on the wires melted.guthriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17992984293423290387noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-43756982347212462352009-10-03T17:02:12.247-04:002009-10-03T17:02:12.247-04:00Did your school become great at athletics?Did your school become great at athletics?skankyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14584908320777937193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-64124127461071328532009-10-03T14:04:37.872-04:002009-10-03T14:04:37.872-04:00In junior high, a classmate in our gym locker room...In junior high, a classmate in our gym locker room was showing everyone a test tube half-full of mercury. He'd pour some out and fool around with it in the palm of his hand, then he'd drop in on the concrete floor where it seemed to...disappear! Of course anyone who was silly enough to look closely on the locker room floor could see tiny droplets of mercury everywhere. I suppose every kid who took a shower and walked through the area got a bit of it on the soles of his feet.mndeanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06602122227131690451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-16098622326549011072009-09-30T05:48:19.938-04:002009-09-30T05:48:19.938-04:00William T
I don't think kids can play with M...William T <br /><br />I don't think kids can play with Mercury any more. But it is a very intriguing denizen of the Physical world particularly to younger students. It's obviously a metal but a liquid. It's startlingly dense in quantity and non wetting.<br />It is highly poisonous but many of us carry a mouthful of the stuff around with us for a large portion of our lives.<br /> It has taken a long time to demystify these properties and I think it would be a shame if this progress was lost in a world of superstition.<br /><br />I could go on......Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-11651099745026337782009-09-30T04:57:03.910-04:002009-09-30T04:57:03.910-04:00There was apparently a comment made at an examiner...There was apparently a comment made at an examiners conference that a student had written that "silver chloride is a greenish gas". It was felt that this raised questions about the quality of chemistry practical work.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-57773949966121667562009-09-30T03:20:00.109-04:002009-09-30T03:20:00.109-04:00Eh, clouds are made of water vapour. Higher temper...Eh, clouds are made of water vapour. Higher temperatures -> more evapotranspiration -> more clouds. Popular in some circles...Martin Vermeerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04537045395760606324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-70089187500421243572009-09-29T17:09:39.045-04:002009-09-29T17:09:39.045-04:00Our mercury fun was in a lab where we had a vacuum...Our mercury fun was in a lab where we had a vacuum deposition plant with a mercury diffusion pump. One operator vented the chamber to see what the red powder inside the chamber was...skankyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14584908320777937193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-19706987868535564002009-09-28T20:28:10.632-04:002009-09-28T20:28:10.632-04:00When I was blowing up thermometers back in my high...When I was blowing up thermometers back in my highschool days they really were full of mercury. Don't know how much of that stuff I might have swallowed.<br /><br />Do your kids show up drunk or on drugs? Don't tell them it makes class pass alot more quickly.bigcitylibhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05081538803991095825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-18861054807935763142009-09-28T14:15:16.713-04:002009-09-28T14:15:16.713-04:00About 40% of the general chemistry students at a m...About 40% of the general chemistry students at a moderately selective, Carnegie-1 State University believe that the bubbles in boiling water contain hydrogen and oxygen gases. <br /><br />Robert P.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-88896209231563898982009-09-27T23:59:44.186-04:002009-09-27T23:59:44.186-04:00My headbanger was after years of patiently explain...My headbanger was after years of patiently explaining in physics classes that gravity acts down even in cases such as when a ball is thrown upwards. One year I gave a centripetal acceleration problem with a person at the equator. I included a diagram of a stick figure at the equator of a circular earth (head pointing to the right of the page). One students drew a free-body diagram and wrote a corresponding set of F=ma equations. Very nice except she had gravity acting down the page. I now always say gravity acts down toward the centre of the earth. I use the example as a warning to other physics teachers about being careful what you say.<br /><br />Mike CoombesAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-54771912221449096342009-09-27T20:01:52.373-04:002009-09-27T20:01:52.373-04:00That's for the majors. . .
In any case the k...That's for the majors. . . <br /><br />In any case the kids keep inventing new Darwin techniques.EliRabetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07957002964638398767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16612221.post-87299666066817588522009-09-27T19:45:06.919-04:002009-09-27T19:45:06.919-04:00oh... so getting the kids to play with the mercury...oh... so getting the kids to play with the mercury is out? Isn't part of the attraction of chemistry (and physics) that it's a great opportunity to do something 'dangerous'? Where's all the fun if you take that away. No wonder science is on the downward slide...William Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13285679538054366979noreply@blogger.com