OverVolt
Lifer
- Aug 31, 2002
- 14,278
- 89
- 91
Actually... Gordon Moore was interested in Chemistry because he liked to make his own TNT and nitro and play with it.
Then he went on to make silicon transistors, so.... everyone who plays with TNT is a terrorist?
And we wonder why the core sciences in 2012 are stale HMMMMMMMMMM. Maybe because we dissuade the ones who are genuinely interested in the subject. Whats in a Chemistry set these days, salt and water, add salt to the water and watch it dissolve? hahahahha....
Then he went on to make silicon transistors, so.... everyone who plays with TNT is a terrorist?
Moore was a chemist by training, and explained that he got into chemistry
originally as a child because a neighbor got a chemistry set -- "they had
good stuff in them in those days!" -- and quickly became skilled at blowing
things up. He made nitroglycerin, which he would detonate by putting a
drop on a piece of filter paper and striking it with a hammer on an iron
anvil. This made a very sharp crack, and would leave his ears ringing for
an hour or two. Moore explained that this damaged his hearing, and led to
his later relying on a hearing aid. This was around Redwood City,
California, where his father was a deputy sheriff. At one point, officials
found a collection of tools somewhere that looked like they were for
cracking open safes, and a little bottle of yellowish liquid, which had them
concerned. As Moore told it, his father called him in on the case (he was
still an adolescent) and he tested a drop of the liquid with his
filter-paper technique, and it blew. The deputies were then worried about
how to dispose of the nitro, but Moore stepped forward eagerly -- "I'll take
care of that." (He held up both hands to us, in the proud sign of the
successful explosives hobbyist: All digits present.) They also made
rockets, he said, but good rockets were difficult -- "it was much easier to
blow things up."
Later at Cal Tech when he was a grad student in chemistry, someone did a
survey and found that 80% of the Chem grad students got into it via
fireworks and explosives. Amazing!
And we wonder why the core sciences in 2012 are stale HMMMMMMMMMM. Maybe because we dissuade the ones who are genuinely interested in the subject. Whats in a Chemistry set these days, salt and water, add salt to the water and watch it dissolve? hahahahha....
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