On 24/12/2007, Ray Saintonge saintonge@telus.net wrote:
Screaming jelly-babies may not be the most instructive of experiments, but the dramatic effects are bound to pique the interests of teen boys, and that's all you can hope for at that stage. Many a career in science was founded on making things explode to an extent that is no longer possible ion today's bowdlerized chemistry sets.
I suspect you haven't seen the inside of a school chemistry store lately. With the right knowledge it would appear to be possible to create some significant explosions. There do appear to have been some recent changes that would make it much harder to make any form of nerve gas.