As if having a blog with a lab notebook grid-paper background wasn’t geeky enough…
Growing up, I always loved home experiment/science trick books like Bet You Can and Bet You Can’t . So when I ran across a web page on how to create a miniature Plasma cloud at home using a microwave, some old fax paper, paper towels, and a grape, I just had to link to it .
Creating Plasma at home has inherent dangers (and can be expensive if it damages your microwave) but it has an undeniable attraction for me.
Growing up, my favorite tricks in the “Bet You…” books involved fire. One of my favorites involved soaking a handkerchief in a combination of rubbing alcohol and water and then igniting it. The alcohol would burn, but the water would prevent the handkerchief from being harmed.
As soon as I have tried creating plasma with a grape in my microwave (I’ll let you know how it goes) I’m going to have to check out this book .
On a marginally related note, this reminds me of my obsession with the build-it-yourself hovercraft (powered by two vacuum-cleaner engines or something) perpetually advertised in the back of Boy’s Life (which I never got around to ordering). I did order some X-Ray Glasses and was (inexplicably) genuinely disappointed when they didn’t have any X-ray qualities whatsoever. I’m psyched to hear how this goes.
Jon… how did your mom like those fire experiments? I imagine Chastity likes the new plasma interest too? Will you video-tape the experiment for the those of us that prefer non-exploding microwaves? ;-)
Dave… x-ray glasses? Did you want to be a superhero or peeping tom?
Boys don’t grow up… they just bigger eh? What will I do when I have a boy one day?
Heh…my mom was always unbelievably patient with my weird hobbies—but she always encouraged safety. Fortunately, Chastity likes this stuff almost as much as I do! Once I can get some old fax paper, I’ll see if I can video tape our attempt…maybe I can even post it here.
Good luck, and tell us how it went. Just when I thought life had no more novelties to offer my jaded palate . . .