KABOOM!

February 17, 2010 3:51 AM

BookFilter: I'm looking for a book for my (26-year-old) brother on what I'd call "kitchen chemistry"; i.e. cool experiments that you can do at home just for the sake of making something awesome happen.

He doesn't need to actually learn any chemistry - he just likes explosions and things that ooze. Things like making slime and mixing hydrogen peroxide with washing-up liquid are right up his alley. So I'm looking for a whole book of things like that, to make me the best little sister ever when his birthday rolls around.

posted by teraspawn to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (6 answers total)

Best answer: If this was not the inspiration for this question, I suggest The Hungry Scientist Handbook. I read it and enjoyed it. Some of the stuff is dopey and some is fairly high tech while mostly not being dangerous [not a lot of explosions, alas]. This can combine nicely with some of the neat entries in the Instructables contest of the same name (possibly get him a pro membership so he can print PDFs and etc). There are a lot of other neat books in the related section on Amazon including The Science of Cooking [low on explosions] and Backyard Ballistics: Build Potato Cannons, Paper Match Rockets, Cincinnati Fire Kites, Tennis Ball Mortars, and More Dynamite Devices [low on kitchen stuff] that may be good for getting started along this path.
posted by jessamyn at 4:22 AM on February 17, 2010

Best answer: Absinthe & Flamethrowers is a fun read, mostly for the sections on how to make gunpowder and model rocket motors. I bought Backyard Ballistics for my younger brother and he enjoyed that as well.
posted by electroboy at 6:14 AM on February 17, 2010

Best answer: Theodore Gray's Experiments You Can Do At Home (But Probably Shouldn't).
posted by alby at 7:11 AM on February 17, 2010

Best answer: If your brother is anything like the many males who've been around my house these past few days, he might like Fifty Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Children Do)> the source of my eleven-year-old's "How to Boil Water in a Paper Cup" science project to be submitted (finally!) today. Me, I'm scared of fire, but whatever--Anyway, if I were you, whatever book you choose, why not see what less-than-lying-around-the-house items are called for and assemble a kit of sorts to go along with the book? My husband had to make a few trips for "flat-bottomed paper cups" for example. It's much more fun to have books like this when you can do something with them right away! Good luck, little sister!
posted by emhutchinson at 7:38 AM on February 17, 2010

Best answer: Sorry, here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0984296107
posted by emhutchinson at 7:40 AM on February 17, 2010

Best answer: Not exactly explosions but I am 26 and just asked for this as a gift:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/kitchen/c2b1/

Its a molecular gastronomy starter kit and can let you do some very interesting kitchen (in the literal sense) experiments that you can actually eat. This is the sort of stuff that super high-end restaurants are charging $150 a person for.
posted by Elminster24 at 10:09 AM on February 17, 2010