No chemicals?

Don't these people recognize that that means no display at all?

Well, no. They haven't recognized that all learning involves risk.

The first day in my 10th grade science class the teacher walked in, didn't say a word, proceeded to fill a small garbage bag with gas (I can't remember if it was pure oxygen or natural gas) and put the bag over a lit bunson burner. BOOOOOOM! It created a shock wave that rattled the windows. He had our undivided attention after that.

Double Yew Tee Eff.

I weep for the scientific future of this nation.

God, I am so sick of the bubblewrap. Seriously.

Hey, it's the republic of boulder, what d'ya expect?

Down here in Denver, we still have kids making the most of what mold will do with cheese, and seeing if you can power a clock with a potato, and suchlike. My own daughter decided to do the sugar crystal experiments, and was crushed when nothing grew. So I did the gentle explanation that not getting a result IS a result. Her teacher [4th gr] picked up and ran with that.

I liked what the original parents were talking about with celebrity deathmatch spiders... and I'm sure PETA would have a 'cow' with that being a science project.

Wow, they forgot to ban everything electrical...

Was it here that we were having the discussion about how chemistry sets don't actually contain much of anything any more? I can imagine how boring that must be... you can only do the cornstarch trick so many times. All these rules lead to the kind of science fair "experiments" of the kind that the lamers who did everything at the last minute used to put together (and the rest of us made fun of): a bunch of words written on a piece of poster board.

@CousinDave Yeah, that was me. I was a champion vinegar and baking soda volcano maker. My poster boards guaranteed a ribbon every year. A participation ribbon.

no Flammable Substances? Well, no paper so no poster board displays. I guess the kids will be giving talks without visual aids or notes.

In a different vein, I love how our teachers in my kids' schools are demanding that the parents NOT do the kids' projects FOR THEM. 5th grade teacher said "I WANT to see sloppy and juvenile and mperfect. If it's not, I'll know you had a hand in it. Let your kids work their way though it, I want to see how their minds work. HANDS OFF!!!"

LOVE her!!!

When I was in sixth grade, my best friend and I did our science project on the harmful effects of benign substances on plants. We had some really cool and unexpected (to our 11-year-old minds) results, like that Vaseline on the leaves of a plant inhibits its ability to photosynthesize. But I can now see that our little experiment was terribly dangerous. I mean, someone may have touched our plants and gotten their cuticles softened.

Eric, when I was in 10th grade, my awesome science teacher had us all put on safety goggles and stand around a huge tub of water. Then she dropped a large piece of pure sodium into the water and we all watched it ricochet off the sides of the tub at blinding speed. So cool.

*****But I can now see that our little experiment was terribly dangerous. I mean, someone may have touched our plants and gotten their cuticles softened.*****

Funniest thing I've read all day!

NumberSix-

I'm thinking of getting my boy some rubidium for his sixth birthday... cesium would be irresponsible parenting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCk0lYB_8c0

Here's a place where you can buy small samples of nearly all of the naturally occurring elements:

http://www.element-collection.com/

Thanks for the link, Eric. Bet that would go over better at the party than the clown. I had some science teachers like that all through school: "Obviously, you should never do this, but watch what happens when..." And the rubidium and cesium were awesome, but was that potassium actually flaming?

That was two gams of cesium, there are 100 grams in 3.5 ounces or 50x the explosive power

Now imagine as many 3.5 ounce bottles full of cesium in a one quart bag on an airplane.

Isnt it nice that the TSA doent have to think about what goes on a plane as opposed to how much?

lujlp, Cs is a solid metal. To bring a large quantity of it into contact with something will require apparatus.

Not that a TSA screener will be able to recognize it.

Meanwhile, everything confiscated today flew on aircraft for more than 70 years without panicking people. Well, the chainsaws might have raised eyebrows - until the passengers got to know the guys carrying them.

In a nation of strangers, everyone's guilty.

Never personally handled an alkali above lithium rad - but that wasnt really the thrust of my argument

From looking at the blog post, I get the impression that the school expects the kids to bring in earnest displays on Global Warming or Climate Change or whatever it's being called this month. In the middle of the display board will be a picture of Gaia, who, I'm told, looks a lot like Al Gore in a silk dressing gown.

"Gaia, who, I'm told, looks a lot like Al Gore in a silk dressing gown." old rpm daddy

Damn, Sparky... where's the brain bleach?

"These next two are the dog's nuts of the periodic table".

Gotta love that metaphor!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCk0lYB_8c0

-Julie