So you think that risk has been removed?
Number eight - Glass blowing kits.
Glass blowing kits might not be available but some glass blowing still takes place in science clubs to make Hero's steam engines and thermometers.
Kids can still do it and it's still fun.
Number seven - Molten lead casting kits
White metal and pewter casting materials are still available to those 'in the know'. it's done in some school technology departments too.
Kids can still do it and it's still fun.
Number six - Stevens Model Dockyard Locomotive
Mamod and Wilesco steam toys are still available. They are made safer by being adapted to use soild fuels - metaldehyde.
There's nothing stopping youngsters from using methylated spirits in Trangias though.
Kids can still do it and it's still fun.
Number five -
Powermite miniature power tools
Clearly the author is unfamiliar with the Dremel and Black and Decker hobbyist miniature power tools - freely available and capable of of much more damage.
Kids can still access miniature power tools and it's still fun.
Number four - Working toy ovens, irons and more
Tracy V, the author clearly hasn't burned herself with her hair straighteners. I've lost count of the number of girls that I teach who have borne the temporary scars inflicted by GHDs.
Kids can still use hot tools e.g. glue melt guns and it's still fun.
Number three - Gilbert chemistry set
There's nothing stopping the well informed youngster getting hold of the self same chemicals in much larger quantities from Amazon. DAMHIK
Kids can still get the chemicals and it's still fun.
Number two - Austin magic pistol
Hurrah! Something that kids can't get their hands on any more. However big kids i.e. my fellow undergraduates and I used to get calcium carbide and blow up our dustbin which much bigger flames, explosions and dramatic effects. The writer displays her ignorance of chemistry by suggesting that ammonium nitrate is a suitable substitute for calcium carbide.
There's no equivalent toy - no fun at all.
But you can buy vintage calcium carbide cannon from America on Ebay.
Number one - Atomic Energy Labs
The risks are overstated. Radium and Uranium are alpha particle emitters and although alpha particles are strongly ionising they are stopped by paper and skin. Radon gas, the decay product of Radium can be inhaled but the quantities involved are way lower than those encountered in the home in places like Cornwall in house with unventilated sub floor voids. Anyone still in possession of old luminous clocks, watches and other instrumentation possess have radioactive sources with far greater activity than the stuff found in school and probably the Gilbert kits. As for dry ice risks - the author isn't familiar with the fact the dry ice was freely available from stores for domestic refrigeration purposes in the USA and dry ice handling was a mundane activity. It's still available now. The use of the Fahrenheit scale -109.3˚F gives a bigger negative value than that on the Celcius scale -78˚C. Antarctica has been colder.
Here is someone handling pure Uranium
The Ruthinium beta radiation source has a relatively short half life of around a year
The Zinc 65 gamma ray source has a half life of eight months
The Gilbert's kits cost the equivalent of around £300 in today's money, were sold for only a year and had poor sales.
Only sold in 1950 and 1951. Of limited appeal. The experiments are quite boring really. Its absence is no great loss.
Overall it's a poorly researched and poorly written article. The risk averse society, and scientific and technologically illiterate authors generate an income from similar tripe.
I'm off to play with my flame throwers, pyrotechnics, live steam engines and pulse jets.
I know how to have fun.
