Sentimental Journey

[Greg Montalbano]

To combine both of those delightful pastimes...

I also was much involved with Chem sets of the "non-wimpy" variety -- remember 
routinely producing red fuming nitric acid & other such jollies.
Main item of production was a series of hellaciously effective explosive
mixtures --
the MOST effective involving potassium chlorate, red phosphorus, magnesium &
other
equally unstable elements.  I used it to blow up the (Revell?) model of the
WESTINGHOUSE
NUCLEAR POWERE PLANT (not, in those days, quite so politically incorrect as
today).
One teaspoonful of the mixture served to reduce the model to bits no larger
than 1/4".
Would have continued developing it, but that same day managed to blow off
three fingers
of my left hand, after which the thrill was pretty much gone;  the switch to
electronics
& the perpetual scent of solder rosin followed shortly after.

Greg
age 46/16/93 (depending on the time of day)

At 09:43 AM 3/31/97 -0500, you wrote:
>     Ah, the wonders of pre-pubescent pyrotechnics.  In my neighborhood, we 
>     used to build Aurora plastic models all year, mostly the ones based on 
>     the Universal monster movies.  Then blow them up with firecrackers or 
>     cherry bombs on the 4th of July.  Back in those days it was easy to 
>     get the raw materials to make gunpowder from the local hobby store -- 
>     sold as refills for chemistry sets (Gilbert or Lionel).
>     
>     Speaking of chemistry sets, they used to come with some relatively 
>     dilute hydrochloric acid and zinc.  Dissolve the Zn in HCl and you get 
>     hydrogen.  Light a match and poof.
>     
>     Also very easy to mess up a kitchen by mixing baking soda and vinegar 
>     in a not too tightly closed container and observing the reaction.  Got 
>     a good wallop for that!
>     
>     I studied chemical engineering in college.  Without exception, every 
>     one of my classmates got his (and I do mean "his") start by blowing 
>     stuff up.  Many of them went to work for large chemical companies, 
>     where the objective was to not blow the place up.
>
>