Bryan loves loud noises, fire and flying objects. Some of my favorite science memories include those elements.
Chemistry class with a chunk of pure sodium in water ignites making quite a large amount of flame and sputtering smoke. One of the lab assistants later took a piece and flushed it down the toilet on the second floor. There was enough oil on it to make a delayed reaction...toilets on the first and basement floors shot up like geysers, catching a few by surprise.
Chemistry class bunsen burners were always a source of entertainment by themselves (fire!). In junior high some would take the rubber hoses and make water weenies out of them, tying one end with a knot, filling with water and holding the end to release the water. One boy (a bully) decided to be really sneaky and had one that went down his sleeve and into his pant leg. He then brought this onto the bus, ready to squirt helpless victims trapped on the bus. Of course his accomplices couldn't keep from bragging what was going to happen so we were ready for him as he entered the bus. He got just past the driver and a few of my friends in benches on each side of the bus slapped him really hard in the legs. The hose burst, snapping him in a number of tender places as the rubber retreated, and immediately drenched him in water from head to toe while he screamed. A wave of water gushed down the aisle of the bus.
We had at least two evacuations of the middle school building each year due to smoke and fire from chemistry experiments gone bad. One included an explosion (mostly just a loud noise, no shrapnel) that was heard throughout the school and around the neighborhood. Someone had decided to just mix a bunch of things together over the bunsen burner. When it started to smoke he quickly ran it over to the hood and made it there just in time for the "big bang".
One of my favorite memories was making hot-air balloons out of plastic bags and tin plates as a Cub Scout. A candle didn't seem to get enough lift, so our Den Chief (age 14) brought his aftershave lotion. A small cup full made a great flame and the balloon rose quickly and much higher than all the rest. As it kept rising we realized we had no way to control it or get it down. We ran along fields and roads trying to keep it in sight until it passed over the highway and river out of sight. The next day we heard of a big field fire that started the night before and were afraid it was caused by our balloon. A week later they determined the cause to be something else, but it was a long week for us.
Model rockets were one of my favorite too. Fun to learn about things that make noise, smoke and fly. All the essential elements for a good time. My friend Steve Kroon and I build a two-stage rocket with a camera in the nose. It had a motor and trigger that would start taking pictures as the nose turned upside-down. We launched it on July 4 after a neighborhood celebration in a field behind the homes. The entire neighborhood turned out to see the launch. There were so many engines in it we had to drive a car up to the launch area for the extra battery power. Great launch! The launch was a bit rough and triggered the camera early so we mostly got pictures of the sky and one or two of the horizon just as it started to tip over.
My high school physics teacher, Mr Vernier (he'd say, "like the caliper") would hold annual science events a couple of times a year to demonstrate science. One was the bridge building contest where we built balsa wood bridges then had a competition to see how much weight each would hold, of course by loading them down with weight until they broke. Some of the good ones would hold a LOT of weight then have spectacular failures, throwing pieces around the room. The "monkey gun" was a favorite, where shooting a steel ball out a tube would trip an electric switch that dropped a tin can held by a magnet on the other side of the room. The ball would hit the can before it hit the floor. The biggest event though was Mr Vernier having one of the football players break a cement block with a sledge hammer that was sitting on a bed of nails on Mr Vernier's chest. That one always packed the house!
Good times. Science is one of my favorite classes once you get past the boring stuff and find out what you can really do with it.
Wes
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