Wish I was there!

Oh that is so cool! I try to do something like that for my boy scouts a couple times a month. I'm trying to find some sulfur hexaflouride, which acts the opposite helium when you breathe it.

If any of you are ever bored or just want to show some kids something cool, put about 1/2 inch of milk in a plate, and drop in different spots drops of food coloring. Don't mix it up! The drop a drop or two of dishwashing detergent in the middle, sit back and watch. It is so cool!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW-bn9zssak

PS- I took my boy yesterday to see "Hugo". It is truly a masterpiece, and I thought of you Amy as it was mostly set in the train station in Paris around 1900. I bet you'd love it, like a two hour vacation!

Offtopic: Time to step it up, Ammerz... There's a new contender for blog comment title of the year.

(Strongly agree re: The CDA OCAHD)

Where did you get that wristwatch?
Is that a stolen IPhone? No? Prove it.
Please step out of your car sir. Do you mind if I take a quick look?

Never Talk to the Police

Prof. Duane explains in these videos why he is proud of the 5th Amendment, and will never, ever talk to the police without a lawyer. You shouldn't either. Don't take his word for it; he cites the advice of Nuremberg Trial Chief Prosecutor Robert Jackson, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Prof. Duane is animated and interesting. This lecture is an eye-opener.

When I was at the University of Chicago some of my dormmates made this and called it "Nice cream" :)

Andrew, thanks for that link again... It's one that deserves to show up here every couple of months to remind people.

**** Cousin Dave!!! ****

Think carefully about the Sulphur Hexafluoride! Check out the MSDS -- classified as a simple asphyxiant, it displaces air and as it is denser, can be hard to expel from the lungs (unlike helium which rises our of the lungs). The remedy for someone who is suffering from Sulphur Hex asphyxiation is to turn them upside down!

I am a chemist. MSDS on sulfur hexafluoride:

http://www.praxair.com/praxair.nsf/AllContent/A563A55AC40BF981852575BC00687246/$File/p4657e.pdf

SERIOUSLY BAD IDEA to inhale this for sport.

Well, so much for that idea....

We used to make LN2 martinis but that sort of behavior is frowned on at official university functions these days. The ice cream is a distinct second.

Well, Chester, N2O is also not toxic, makes your voice almost as deep, and is a lot more fun than SF6 :)

More seriously, handling small amounts of SF6 from a balloon, and taking one breath of it without holding that breath is extremely unlikely to even make you feel lightheaded. Large spills and entry into enclosed oxygen-free spaces are dangerous- two technician died in the boattail of the Space Shuttle Columbia, but blacked out only after several breaths of nitrogen. That SF6 is dense is not significant in the lungs due to their fractal shape and turbulent flow; it remins well mixed.

I'm glad you enjoyed the theatrics of our ice cream, Amy, but I do wish I'd remembered to bring my ceramic superconductor samples to demonstrate magnetic levitation. Techies and their toys...

> Doug Jones

Game (back) on! Hell, scouts are durable.

Almost every concentrated gas except for oxygen is an asphyxiant. (And concentrated oxygen is toxic. You can't win!) I just looked up the NFPA diamond for SF6 and it's all zeroes. It's so unreactive that it's used as an insulating gas in high-voltage switchgear and capacitors.