[HN Gopher] The old Caveman Chemistry website (1996-2000)
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       The old Caveman Chemistry website (1996-2000)
        
       Author : marcodiego
       Score  : 72 points
       Date   : 2025-07-20 14:11 UTC (8 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (cavemanchemistry.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (cavemanchemistry.com)
        
       | ludicrousdispla wrote:
       | From the Stone Tools project page...
       | 
       | >> If you have ever seen the fracture which results when a BB
       | hits a glass window, you have seen the conchoidal fracture.
        
       | mock-possum wrote:
       | Wow the instructor sounds extra, but this would've been a great
       | course to go through in a summer as a kid. It'd be fun to audit
       | as an adult really.
        
       | mrKola wrote:
       | How is it that the new website is uglier than the old one?
        
       | quibono wrote:
       | I think chemistry is one of those subjects that should be the
       | easiest to teach in a captivating way and yet most
       | school/university level treatments tend to be quite dry. I
       | imagine most of this is due to cost, safety and effort required
       | but one can dream.
        
         | pstuart wrote:
         | A chemist once told me the two paths that bring people into
         | chemistry are learning how to blow shit up and how to get high.
         | 
         | But yes, regardless of those two it should be easy to frame it
         | as a magical adventure.
        
           | le-mark wrote:
           | I always thought breaking bad should have brought a lot of
           | people into chemistry, but I've never seen stats that support
           | that.
        
         | riffraff wrote:
         | I heard from reputable sources that modern "little chemist"
         | kits[0] have become quite boring, mostly for safety reasons
         | (there's some nice single-use kits like Mel science but that's
         | different).
         | 
         | Still, looks like you can still make a bunch of fun experiments
         | in school? I've tried to engage my kids in some simple
         | experiments (ph identification with cabbage, showing how bones
         | can become brittle or rubbery depending on which components you
         | remove, the classic soda&vinegar experiments etc).
         | 
         | University level treatment, dunno, seems like it should be fun
         | but I had one chemistry class and balancing reductions is not
         | that entertaining and that's most of it.
         | 
         | [0] I'm not sure of the actual English name, I mean those kits
         | with a dozen things to combine, a becher, a Bunsen burner etc.
        
       | JKCalhoun wrote:
       | Tried a few links and found them broken.
       | 
       | For example, Dunn's book on soap making. Nonetheless, Googled it:
       | 
       | https://www.amazon.com/Scientific-Soapmaking-Chemistry-Cold-...
       | 
       | The lead me to his Caveman Chemistry book on Amazon as well:
       | 
       | https://www.amazon.com/Caveman-Chemistry-Projects-Creation-P...
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2025-07-20 23:00 UTC)