The Chemistry gift guide – Celebrating chemistry and inspiring the next generation of chemists!

Each week we all hear stories about the “good ole’ days”of science, engineering and chemistry – decades ago kids had chemistry sets, made rockets, we invested in science everywhere – we were heading to the moon.

We can’t live in the past though – only build on it, the best days of science are not behind us folks, they’re ahead of us! – It’s is up to all of us to do something about it, I don’t know about you but I want to live through a “golden age” of science, it can start now. We are what we celebrate – if we celebrate reality-tv show “stars” and Britney Spears, that’s what we’ll get – if we celebrate all the cool things scientists, engineers and chemists do, we’ll get our next generation of rock stars – and by that I mean geologists and astronomers :)

Each year at MAKE we put together a few gift guides: open source hardware, electronics, science, wood working and this year we’ve added chemistry. Before we dive in to *the* chemistry gift guide – here are some excerpts as well as an interesting look back at one Christmas morning by Robert Bruce Thompson, author of The Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments All Lab, No Lecture.

It was a Lionel/Porter/Chemcraft chemistry set, and the exact model I’d asked for. The biggest one, with dozens of chemicals and hundreds of experiments. Glassware, an alcohol lamp, a balance, even a centrifuge. Everything I needed to do real chemistry. I instantly forgot about the rest of my presents, even the BB gun. I started reading the manual, jumping from one experiment to another. I carefully examined each of the chemical bottles. The names of the chemicals were magical. Copper sulfate, sodium carbonate, sulfur, cobalt chloride, logwood, potassium ferricyanide, ferrous ammonium sulfate, and dozens more.

I used the balance to weigh something for the fi rst time. I put an object in one of the balance pans and carefully added weights to the other pan until the needle was centered. As I was about to jump on to something else, my dad brought me to a screeching halt. “Write it down,” he said. “A scientist records what he observes. If you don’t work methodically and write down what you observe, you’re not a scientist. You’re just playing around.” I’ve been recording my observations ever since.

I soon lost interest in the other gifts, but getting that chemistry set was a life-changing experience. My mother told me years later that she and my dad had hoped that the chemistry set would hold my interest for at least a few weeks. As it turned out, it held my interest a bit longer. With my dad’s help, I built a chemistry workbench in the basement, and later a photographic darkroom. I scrounged equipment and chemicals from every source I could think of, and saved up for things that required cash. I spent every spare moment in that lab, and went on to major in chemistry in college and graduate school. Even now, more than 40 years later, I have a chemistry lab in the basement. It’s a much better lab than the one I had back in the 1960s, but the work habits I learned then stand me in good stead now.

What I experienced that Christmas morning was repeated in millions of other homes through the years as boys (and, alas, only a few girls) opened their first chemistry sets. From the 1930s through the 1960s, chemistry sets were among the most popular Christmas gifts, selling in the millions. It’s said that in the 1940s and 1950s there was a chemistry set in nearly every household where there was a child. Even as late as the 1970s, chemistry sets remained popular and were on display in every toy store and department store. And then something bad happened. By the 1980s, chemistry sets had become a dying breed. Few stores carried them, and most of those sets that remained available were pale shadows of what chemistry sets had been back in the glory days.

On with the biggest, best and only chemistry gift guide!

Chemistry Experiment Kit 3000
Give the gift that will make our next generation of chemists possible! CHEM C3000 is the ultimate chemistry kit. Start with fun experiments to learn basic chemistry principles, then build a strong foundation with exposure to a broad range of chemical phenomena and hands-on lab experience. Pair this with our Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry.
Price: $199.95 (On sale, you save $40)

Let’s dive in, keep reading!

Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments
For students, DIY hobbyists, and science buffs, who can no longer get real chemistry sets, this one-of-a-kind guide explains how to set up and use a home chemistry lab, with step-by-step instructions for conducting experiments in basic chemistry. Learn how to smelt copper, purify alcohol, synthesize rayon, test for drugs and poisons, and much more. The book includes lessons on how to equip your home chemistry lab, master laboratory skills, and work safely in your lab, along with 17 hands-on chapters that include multiple laboratory sessions.

Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments is a fantastic teacher for chemical literacy. It will show you or your kids how to work with chemicals, and why they are fun. Some of the experiments are visually entertaining. Others are scientifically important…there are simply no other decent books for the beginner chemical experimenter. The ones you find in libraries are simply useless trash. The stuff on the internet is haphazard and inconsistent. Follow the instructions here in the Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments and you’ll be on your way…
Price: $25.99

Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments (Hardcover)
The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments was a children’s chemistry book written in the 1960s by Robert Brent and illustrated by Harry Lazarus and published by Western Publishing in their Golden Books series. Many of the experiments contained in the book are now considered highly dangerous for unsupervised children, and would not appear in a modern children’s chemistry book. OCLC lists only 126 copies of this book in libraries worldwide. It was said that the experiments and information contained herein were too dangerous for the general public. The book was a source of inspiration to David Hahn, nicknamed “the Radioactive Boy Scout” by the media, who tried to collect a sample of every chemical element and also built a model nuclear reactor, which led to the involvement of the authorities.
Price: $495.00 (collectible)
Price: FREE You can find a PDF of it here and print it out.

Home Science Tools
Looking for the chemicals, lab equipment, kits, and other supplies to do chemistry experiments? Here you’ll find chemicals from acetic acid to zinc, glassware like beakers and test tubes, alcohol lamps, molecular model sets, microchemistry lab kits for older students and chemistry sets for younger kids, and chemistry-related books for all ages. See their balances & scales for precise chemical weighing. They don’t seem to offer gift certificates so I’ve linked to all the chemistry related sections.

• Chemistry Kits
• Glassware & Plasticware
• Beakers & Flasks
• Test Tubes
• Graduated Cylinders
• Other Glass & Plastic…
• Chemistry Books & Models
• Lab Equipment
• Ring Stand Equipment
• General Lab Equipment
• Stoppers
• Glass & Rubber Tubing
• Alcohol Lamps & Burners
• Safety Equipment
• Measurement Equipment
• Chemicals

My favorite? The basic chemistry lab equipment kit.
Price: $39.95

A gift certificate to United Nuclear, the best science shop on the web!
The sole purpose of United Nuclear Scientific Supplies, LLC is to put the “fun” back into science. Currently, both private and public schools (as well as other learning institutions) are removing chemicals & glassware from their chemistry labs, electronic components from their engineering classes… along with many other important pieces of “hands-on” learning equipment. In exchange, they have students conduct experiments on computer or simply read text instead of actually coming into contact with the equipment & materials they are learning about. Most professors & teachers we have spoken with completely disagree with this concept. It is United Nuclear’s intention make these and other interesting/scientific related items once again available to the hobbyist, teacher, experimenter, and professional organizations.

United Nuclear was formed in 1986 by Los Alamos scientist, Bob Lazar. Bob had previously worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory ( specifically in the Meson Physics facility ), involved with experiments using the 1/2 mile long Linear Particle Accelerator. After a few years, he eventually decided to break away and start his own company. In the summer of 1986, Bob moved from Los Alamos, New Mexico to Las Vegas, Nevada, and there the new company was formed and named United Nuclear Scientific Supplies, LLC.

Might I suggest some chemicals & metals, element sample sets, chemistry experiments, aerogel & lab glassware – at $55 it’s a great deal.
Price: Gift certificates are $25, $50, $100

Periodic Table shower curtain
Which elements are metals? Do you know the atomic mass of oxygen? Presenting the building blocks of all matter, this stylish periodic table shower curtain is an essential to any bathroom. The picture above is from my bathroom!
Price: $30

Periodic Table Playing Cards
A double deck of regular playing cards with the Periodic Table Elements. Each card features one element, it has the atomic number, name of the element in English, French and Spanish, the mass, the category, melting and boiling points, period and group, natural state and common usages. A great learning aid.
Price: $15.99

An atomic energy chemistry set for children.
Price: $ Maybe eBay, garage sales…

MAKE volume 16 – Great Balls of Fire!
Why old chemistry sets were better – and how to make your own today…

Price: $14.99 – Or Subscribe to MAKE, we’ll have TONS of chemistry projects in 2009! Use code CMAKE to get $5 off!

Give the gift of chemistry, a gift subscription to MAKE is a gift that gives all year – we love chemistry and we’re sure the giftee will too!
Price: $29.95

Set up your own chemistry lab
Grab some old issues of Popular Science! – WITH simple equipment requiring surprisingly little financial outlay, you can build in your home a small chemical laboratory that will provide a fascinating hobby. Here you may amaze your friends with seemingly magical chemical tricks, as by the manufacture of paint that shines in the dark or of writing inks that disappear unless the secret of bringing them back is known. You can manufacture useful things for the home, as soap or liquid court plaster. You can test gold rings and ivory piano keys to see whether they are genuine. If you wish, you can investigate the chemical processes used in industry, with the ever-present possibility of an important discovery. To the real dyed-in-the-wool experimenter, chemicals in themselves are intriguing, and a beautifully colored precipitate or a startling formation of crystals is its own reward for the trouble of preparation.
Price: Garage sales, eBay or re-prints online (free)

We’ll end this gift guide with the dedication found in The Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry & the chemical party…

To Carl Wilhelm Scheele, one of the first true chemists, who did so much with so little.  As a practicing pharmacist without access to the advanced laboratory equipment available to many of his contemporaries, Scheele discovered numerous chemical elements and compounds–including oxygen, nitrogen, chlorine, barium, manganese, molybdenum, tungsten, citric acid, glycerol, the pigment Scheele’s Green (cupric hydrogen arsenite), and many others–debunked the phlogiston theory, and was among the fi rst to establish the rigorous, standardized, consistent quantitative procedures that are the hallmark of modern chemistry. Scheele died at age 43, apparently from mercury poisoning contracted as a result of his unfortunate habit of tasting the new compounds he prepared.

Holiday Shipping Deadlines:

FedEx*:
Ground – Dec 15th
3-Day Saver -Dec 17th
2-Day -Dec 18th
Overnight -Dec 19th

*Customers experiences on orders with these ship methods placed after these dates may vary, the dates listed are what we call “safe dates”

USPS (Any Method):
Due to the high volume of mail that the postal service deals with around the holidays, order by Dec. 10th, however, many packages are lost or delayed in transit and we do not replace or refund any orders lost using this ship method, we strongly encourage you to not use this method in December.

Want more? Stop by the Maker Shed store and check out THE place for open source hardware, Arduino & Arduino accessories, electronic kits, science kits, smart stuff for kids, back issues of MAKE & CRAFT, box sets, books, robots, kits from Japan and more.

If I missed any kits or resources, post up in the comments.