Wither the humble chemistry set

A co-worker of mine sent out a request to me and another science teacher looking for an old-school chemistry set for her son. My reply to her was sad but simple: nobody makes them anymore.

I knew this because of an article in Wired from earlier this year. The article discusses the difficult situation in which we've placed the future of science here in the US. We find ourselves in a state of governmental fear, in which we much check on every person who buys any chemical because they could be a terrorist. And anyone not labeled a terrorist is instead, a potential paycheck for a lawyer who finds the right client - the one whose son or daughter lost a finger or an eye or a bit of flesh to a homemade smoke bomb gone awry.

And at the same time, we're trying to maintain our top standing in the world's science community - a standing threatened by European nations and a growing Asian science population. Without the excitement of children playing with chemicals, how will be replace the current generation of chemists and chemical engineers? Without the taste of sulfur in the air, why would any young person want to grow up to be a chemist?

Thank, heaven, however for the few companies that still make chemistry sets. Sure, the chemicals are less dangerous than what they once were, and lots of the sets aim for making things that are some combination of gooey or tasty or icky or makeup. Good lord. Chemicals are supposed to explode, not end up in your mouth.

And then are the saviors, the people who - in spite of the governmental hassles and the crack of dawn raids - continue to sell actual science materials to the public. Sure, they sell the licensed and often regulated parts of the public, but it's still selling to people like you and me. I'm talking about United Nuclear. These people are some sort of bastion of chemical freedom.

You can buy all sorts of reasonably innocuous but still amazingly dang cool things from them like aerogel, spinthariscope - check that one out (I'm totally buying a half dozen for my classroom next year), standard lab glassware, amazingly bright glow in the dark stuff, full one-pound meteorites, and phenomenally strong magnets. But they also sell the really cool stuff: uranium ore, radioactive isotopes - alpha, beta, gamma - you name it, and cloud chambers.

These are people willing to sell you and me stuff that is so freaikin'ly cool that I've gotta buy something from them just to support them.

And for some reason, I'm totally feeling the aerogel.

I want it, I want it, I want it...

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And at first blush. If you really are looking for a chemistry set, I would probably recommend this one.