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dsprik · 07-04-2006, 06:05 PM

I'm a retired Science teacher. I loved those kind of experiments! Had to be a little careful, though... Parents always seemed to grill their kids until they sang like a bird... "OK! OK! I'll tell!!! Mr. Sprik showed us how to do this in science class." Man... even after I swore them to secrecy...

I got to tell you, though. There is nothing like teaching middle school science. As long as principal let you order what you want for chemicals... "Dave, why do you need to order so much pure Sodium?"

I did NOT say, "Because when I run out of concentrated hydrochloric acid and zinc metal to form explosive pure hydrogen (great fireballs, BTW), blowing up pure sodium is my backup "fun experiment..." (But that was the truth).

The only time in seven years of doing the "Sodium" experiment, that my principal decided to visit during this lab, I had a little too much sodium in the test tube with the water and the sodium shot too high and stuck, smoldering, in the ceiling (wasn't THAT big of a hole in the tile, and the flames died out fairly quickly...). He turned and left the room.

For some odd reason I felt the urge to add levity to the situation, so as he was leaving the room, I yelled at his back, "Well, thank goodness at least the asbestos put out the fire..." He didn't think that was very funny either... Had a note in my mailbox to see him in his office after school... We didn't really get along that well anyway. His suggestion was to cover my entire 400 sq ft ceiling in my science room with aluminum foil for these types of experiments. Yeah... right... I'll get right on that...

I can't wait to tear into that 1/2 time oven to see what I can do with it. Hope my wife doesn't need it for anything???

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*On Edit~ In case someone, on the off chance, might think I'm completely wacko (although, this may not dissuade many either), the above experiments were demonstrations of "Exothermic Energy Reactions (vs Endothermic Reactions)" and "Single Replacement Chemical Reactions". So there was a method to my madness. Wow, that might not have been the right thing to say either...

07-04-2006, 06:05 PM	#54
dsprik Montana Master Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Fort Myers Posts: 5,933 M.O.C. #4282	I'm a retired Science teacher. I loved those kind of experiments! Had to be a little careful, though... Parents always seemed to grill their kids until they sang like a bird... "OK! OK! I'll tell!!! Mr. Sprik showed us how to do this in science class." Man... even after I swore them to secrecy... I got to tell you, though. There is nothing like teaching middle school science. As long as principal let you order what you want for chemicals... "Dave, why do you need to order so much pure Sodium?" I did NOT say, "Because when I run out of concentrated hydrochloric acid and zinc metal to form explosive pure hydrogen (great fireballs, BTW), blowing up pure sodium is my backup "fun experiment..." (But that was the truth). The only time in seven years of doing the "Sodium" experiment, that my principal decided to visit during this lab, I had a little too much sodium in the test tube with the water and the sodium shot too high and stuck, smoldering, in the ceiling (wasn't THAT big of a hole in the tile, and the flames died out fairly quickly...). He turned and left the room. For some odd reason I felt the urge to add levity to the situation, so as he was leaving the room, I yelled at his back, "Well, thank goodness at least the asbestos put out the fire..." He didn't think that was very funny either... Had a note in my mailbox to see him in his office after school... We didn't really get along that well anyway. His suggestion was to cover my entire 400 sq ft ceiling in my science room with aluminum foil for these types of experiments. Yeah... right... I'll get right on that... I can't wait to tear into that 1/2 time oven to see what I can do with it. Hope my wife doesn't need it for anything??? -------------------------------- *On Edit~ In case someone, on the off chance, might think I'm completely wacko (although, this may not dissuade many either), the above experiments were demonstrations of "Exothermic Energy Reactions (vs Endothermic Reactions)" and "Single Replacement Chemical Reactions". So there was a method to my madness. Wow, that might not have been the right thing to say either...