gutter_ca

elemantalscientific.net

unitednuclear.com

Nope. I agree. Why can't people make rock candy when they decide to take up chemistry as a hobby? It's tasty, safe, and you can make it in many pretty colors!

 

sigh..

Man, you really are against the home lab, eh?

Don't you remember your first science kit anymore? Stop trying to squelch curiosity.

To the OP: OTC reagents can be purified, go to Google. Also, Lye is most definitely not HCl.

Spoken like a true amateur.

 

Chemistry has advanced far beyond that at this point in time. If an amateur experimentalist were to discover something, he would most likely never know about it without a lab full of characterization equipment. Amateurs simply don't have access to the reagents, knowledge, equipment, or safety gear necessary to handle professional grade research projects. Ask the other trained chemists in this thread, you'll get similar results back from them. Without a little chemophobia, you're are likely to die or get fired quickly in a professional laboratory setting.

 

There is nothing wrong with a little amateur chemistry playing but it will likely be nothing more than a semi-dangerous hobby.

I am an analytical chemist. Amateur access to reagents is due to the "War on Terror" and "War on (Some) Drugs." Plenty of amateurs out there have access to LC, GC, GC/MS, to name a few.

Safety is, of course, paramount. But with care and research, chemistry can be done at home. You're doing no one any favors by discouraging chemical curiosity

Hello,

 

I respect your position, mine is just different, that's all. I'm sorry that my original post in this thread implies that you would be reckless or irresponsible, by default if, you answer this person's questions. I am not trying to personally attack anyone, and rather should have said, that I have my own personal standards on these issues and as they pertain to me, I feel I would be behaving irresponsibly and against my own conscience if I were to provide this person with an answer to their question.

 

I'm a research chemist now, but before I started my PhD I spent some time in the military as a pilot and worked as a volunteer medevac pilot during most of my final years in undergrad and graduate school. From that experience, I have seen a lot of people do some very dangerous things with very basic equipment.. You would be surprised what terrorists can get their hands on off of ebay in terms of lab equipment... and in many cases they get their information from online forums, cookbooks etc, where unsuspecting scientists are simply trying to provide useful general information. So I am more concerned with the poster planning to extract magnesium from something else - because the processes would be very similar - or some other truly dodgy person coming along and deciding that they can apply the information obtained here to their home-grown setup. Lot's of people don't like to obtain receipts for purchasing products/compounds necessary to make their dangerous [enter whatever device/compound here] so they try to find ways to do it themselves at home..

 

Obviously, this next example doesn't apply in this case, but to further explain the reason why I prefer to be overly cautious, well - it stems from experiences I've had with victims of drug lab accidents, and other such amateur chemistry accidents (amateur fireworks made at home, rockets, tiny bombs for personal amusement, etc). You'd be surprised what bored and mal-informed people do with their scientific "knowledge".

 

The worst part are the burns I've seen on the innocent victims of these homegrown science experiments.. I've transported some unfortunate people to the hospital with various types of burns and other injuries from all manner of accidents..

 

Thus,

I readily admit that I am overly cautious, which is a personal preference, as my personal experiences have changed me.. and what I meant by you are free to do whatever you wish - is simply that you are free to disagree with my interpretation of what is and is not responsible... I did not mean to suggest that you are irresponsible because you do not agree with my definitions.

 

I readily admit that my standards for myself do not have to be - and - nor should they be randomly adopted by everyone else in the world. I am not the evil queen dictator, I just have my own personal preferences, that I chose to adhere to..

 

To the original poster:

Please don't think that I am calling you a terrorist or a drug lab chemist, but you aren't the only person with access to these forums, and unfortunately you did not provide enough information about origin or purpose of your question to set my mind at ease.

 

Cheers..

For someone who (claims to) has chem degrees, you certainly seem to have a case of chemophobia. Amateur experimentation has lead to many, MANY advancements, and discouraging curiosity isn't a good plan. Not everyone without a degree is making bombs or drugs, not every home lab is a ticking time bomb.

OP, if you're a serious amateur experimenter, check out sciencemadness.org