There weren’t exactly mass casualties resulting from the chemistry sets being mentioned by the other posters in this thread either. We just got more afraid of being sued.
Snark aside, where is the middle ground? Fizzing and food coloring is interesting to a 5 year old, but that’s about all you can get as a consumer these days. There’s likely a vast gulf of squandered opportunity between that and what can genuinely be done safely and still be inspiring.
Yeah, a little bit. It’s not just kids that can’t get their hands on stuff. Even trained adults have to jump through regulatory and legal hoops. Schools face tons of liability. Mass market chemistry sets are lame now.
If you want to buy anything from Alfa Aesar, Fisher Scientific or any similar “real” supplier, you need to be a corporation or educational institution and have a purchasing account or p-card. Even if it’s distilled water or sodium chloride. Find a kid who can jump through those hoops and you’ll have someone who’d probably make a decent cofounder
I mean, yes? Our threshold for what's dangerous is very sensitive and our trust in kids is very low.
A ten year old raised to understand danger can be capable of using bleach safely, operating a lawnmower, or carrying out fun exothermic reactions in the backyard.
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Are .. are you saying it’s a bad thing children can’t handle dangerous chemicals anymore? Wut?!
There weren’t exactly mass casualties resulting from the chemistry sets being mentioned by the other posters in this thread either. We just got more afraid of being sued.
Snark aside, where is the middle ground? Fizzing and food coloring is interesting to a 5 year old, but that’s about all you can get as a consumer these days. There’s likely a vast gulf of squandered opportunity between that and what can genuinely be done safely and still be inspiring.
Yeah, a little bit. It’s not just kids that can’t get their hands on stuff. Even trained adults have to jump through regulatory and legal hoops. Schools face tons of liability. Mass market chemistry sets are lame now.
If you want to buy anything from Alfa Aesar, Fisher Scientific or any similar “real” supplier, you need to be a corporation or educational institution and have a purchasing account or p-card. Even if it’s distilled water or sodium chloride. Find a kid who can jump through those hoops and you’ll have someone who’d probably make a decent cofounder
I mean, yes? Our threshold for what's dangerous is very sensitive and our trust in kids is very low.
A ten year old raised to understand danger can be capable of using bleach safely, operating a lawnmower, or carrying out fun exothermic reactions in the backyard.
well, yes.
I think it was much safer when kids in general were more well qualified across-the-board.