A Really Dangerous Book
Want to put the pizazz back into science? Show off its dangerous side.
April 28, 2009— -- Theodore Gray would be quite a kick to have at a party. He knows how to salt his popcorn using poisonous gas and a how to make a metal explode when it gets wet. He makes metal spoons that dissolve a few seconds after you stir them in water. And he really likes things that explode, burn or otherwise self-destruct in some spectacular fashion.
Click here for more on experiments you shouldn't do at home at our partner site, Forbes.com.
Hey, it's all just science.
Just not exactly the kind of science that you learn in school these days.
Gray has just published a book chock full of genuinely dangerous science experiments, Mad Science--Experiments You Can Do at Home--But Probably Shouldn't. The book is based on more than 50 columns Gray has written since July 2003 for Popular Science magazine.
And yes, these truly, really can hurt you--if you don't pay attention.
In his day-to-day life, Gray writes computer programs at the software company he co-founded, Wolfram Research. He developed a determination to collect every raw element listed on the Periodic Table--or at least as many of them as is humanly possible to have (some can exist for fleeting moments in time or are wildly radioactive).
Gray started photographing his collection, and wound up building what is truly the world's most beautiful Periodic Table. The entrepreneur in him seized command, and he built a modest business selling posters, place mats and cards of his table. That led to his Popular Science column, "Gray Matter," and now to the book.
Gray also has a theory about why kids today are bored with science: hamstrung by safety and liability concerns, the world has squeezed all the fun out of experimenting. Mixing up vinegar and baking soda creates a little fizz, but hardily the thrill of, say, exploding gunpowder. Ask any scientist who grew up in the 1950s what got him or her interested in science, and most wind up recounting childhood adventures where they blew things up or otherwise got hands-on with dangerous chemicals.
Even the best-selling Dangerous Book For Boys "is completely devoid of danger!" marvels Gray. "My 10-year-old son got completely bored with it."
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