
Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab Toy (1950-1951) - evo_9
https://www.orau.org/PTP/collection/atomictoys/GilbertU238Lab.htm
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Stratoscope
The '50s were a different time. When I was in third grade, I think it was
1959, I got to go to Mrs. Spencer's Workshop for part of each day. This was a
special class where we could make up our own projects and do them.

I wanted to make a printed circuit board for a science fair project, and I
wanted to etch it myself. I didn't have a source for a phenolic board with a
copper layer, but I figured I could at least demonstrate the concept by
masking both sides of a copper sheet with electrical tape as a resist.

So I asked Mrs. Spencer if she could get me a sheet of copper, some electrical
tape, and a tank of nitric acid. And she did!

I masked the copper with the tape and dunked it in the nitric acid, and
watched it dissolve the copper. Then rinsed off the copper, peeled off the
tape, and glued the copper strips to a cutting board to make the circuit. (I
figured the cutting board would satisfy the "board" part of "printed circuit
board".)

This was the best third grade project ever!

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tempguy9999
When I was kid you could buy pharao's serpents over the counter at joke shops
in the UK.

This is a mercury compound that gives off mercury vapour when lit: "If the
reaction is performed inside a container, a gray film of mercury coating on
its inner surface can be observed"

The instructions told you to be in a well-ventilated place. Oh yeah. Helpful.

<[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury%28II%29_thiocyanate#Ph...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury%28II%29_thiocyanate#Pharaoh%27s_serpent>)

Really good video, well worth watching if you've never seen this before
<[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQdK7gaZS0k>](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQdK7gaZS0k>)

~~~
tempguy9999
Replying to myself, the Pharao's Serpent isn't about gassing kids with
metallic mercury vapour, that's just a bonus, but the peculiar growths it
produces. It looks like a mashup of CGI and '70s stop-motion making a cheap
Dr. Who monster. It's well worth seeing if you've not before.

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atemerev
I wish these toys were available today. This one is not particularly dangerous
(U-238 is barely radioactive), yet very educational and entertaining.

I try to perform some chemical and biological experiments with my daughter,
however, it is much more interesting when you can do such things without adult
supervision; and e.g. home CRISPR kits, while available, require precision and
many difficult steps to achieve the results (there are no guarantees).

~~~
reaperducer
_I wish these toys were available today._

Maybe if they were, fewer people would be afraid of science. And atomic
energy.

When we were kids one of my cousins was signed up for some kind of science
experiment of the month club. The first kit came with a microscope and all
kinds of instruments. Then each month a box would arrive full of slides and
rocks and all kinds of things with instructions for performing five or six
different experiments.

Even as an adult, if such a thing existed I would subscribe to it today.

~~~
adammunich
[https://www.thimble.io/courses/](https://www.thimble.io/courses/)

~~~
reaperducer
That seems like a good choice for some. It's sad, though, that for Thimble,
and so many others, that "science"=electronics, when there is so much more to
explore.

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WalterBright
I had a 1970 version of the Gilbert chemistry set. It was pretty good, not
quite as cool as the Kosmos one. I still have a few remnants of it.

It was just before the end of chemistry sets.

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rolph
has anybody tried to reorder materials for thier kit ?

[https://www.orau.org/PTP/collection/atomictoys/GilbertAtomic...](https://www.orau.org/PTP/collection/atomictoys/GilbertAtomicOrderForm.jpg)
[IMAGE]

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glued
video from Atlas Obscura about the toy
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeyoJGqKbOQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeyoJGqKbOQ)

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fnord77
wouldn't the Zn-65 sample (gamma rays) in the kit be hazardous ?

[https://ehs.princeton.edu/laboratory-research/radiation-
safe...](https://ehs.princeton.edu/laboratory-research/radiation-
safety/radioactive-materials/radioisotope-fact-sheets/zinc-65)

~~~
microwavecamera
To be fair, most products and practices in the 1950's would be considered
wildly dangerous by today's standards. Hell, we were still using leaded
gasoline (gasoline with tetraethyllead additive) up until the 90's. Think
about how dangerous lead poisoning is and now imagine that we used to add it
to gasoline and every gas powered motor was spewing vaporized lead. Good
times.

~~~
beambot
They still use that fuel in airports: avgas

~~~
jlj
I had no idea. FAA confirms:
[https://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=1...](https://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=14754)

~~~
Gibbon1
Yeah it's a problem because there is no money in light aviation and a lot of
liabilities. And leaded aviation gas appears as a liability, especially to
refineries.

There are increasing attempts to produce diesel aircraft engines. Complicated
by there not being any money in light aviation.

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Quequau
I have long been enamoured with the idea of building a series of educational
science toy sets were in some way better than those I remember growing up.
Seems like a nice pastime.

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TheOtherHobbes
Po-210 is an incredibly powerful alpha emitter, and because of that it's one
of the most toxic of all isotopes. LD50 is one microgram.

The fact that someone was selling it in a kit for kids is terrifying.

~~~
exDM69
~~Note that the article mentions Pb-210 not Po-210, ie. lead not polonium.
Pb-210 was known as Radiolead.~~ (edit: it actually contains both)

Po-210 is deadly when ingested but not very dangerous when outside the body.
It also has a very short half life, so you need it fresh out of a reactor if
you are to poison a defected spy or a dissident with it.

~~~
mstade
If anyone else found this comment about poisoning defected spies oddly
familiar, you might also be thinking of the poisoning of Alexander
Litvinenko[0], indeed using Po-210.

[0]:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoning_of_Alexander_Litvi...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoning_of_Alexander_Litvinenko)

