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Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Pyrotechnics in the Teaching Lab
Date: Monday, January 23, 2017 at 10:01:20 PM
Author: "Clark, Eric J." <clarkej**At_Symbol_Here**LATTC.EDU> 		Next by Date:
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Pyrotechnics in the Teaching Lab
Date: Mon, 23 Jan 2017 22:10:09 -0600
Author: John Callen

From: ILPI Support <info**At_Symbol_Here**ILPI.COM>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Pyrotechnics in the Teaching Lab
Date: Mon, 23 Jan 2017 23:08:26 -0500
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Message-ID: 1E0E21E6-4911-439F-91CE-4886472FAB09**At_Symbol_Here**ilpi.com
In-Reply-To


What an amazing coincidence, we're in the process of converting one our chemistry classes into a project-based curriculum, too!  One of the ideas that's getting tossed around is a project built around the popularity of Breaking Bad and the subject of drug manufacture and other criminal activities came up.

I know that methamphetamine is 100% illegal in our city, which seems to imply that anything involving purchasing and reducing large quantities of Sudafed might not only be dangerous, but illegal.  However, I'd like to keep an open mind because the kids would learn something cool-.


But seriously, all logistical, legal, technical, moral etc. considerations aside, it comes down to this - either one of these kids is gonna start trying to do this on their own OR someone is going to scale this up, and either way the results will be life-threatening, period.  I call the Texas Tech incident as my first witness.    And if you look at any of the pyrotechnic demonstrations that we in the teaching community do from time to time, you'll notice they are done by (hopefully) professionals, they are not part of hands-on course activities.  There's a reason for that, which, with a few moments of reflection, should be very obvious.

Rob Toreki

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On Jan 23, 2017, at 8:17 PM, Melissa Anderson <mwanderson08**At_Symbol_Here**GMAIL.COM> wrote:

We're in the process of converting one of our introductory chemistry classes into a project-based curriculum. One of the ideas that's getting tossed around is a project built up around movie special effects, and the subject of pyrotechnics and other fire effects came up.

One spirited discussion later, we (well, some of us) were left wondering about the safety and legal constrains of creating theatrical pyrotechnics as part of a chemistry lab project. In particular, I know that fireworks are 100% illegal in our city, which seems to imply that anything involving flash powder-type reactions might not only be dangerous, but illegal. However, I'd like to bring more than my own initial bias to our next meeting.

I'd like to be able to bring some insights back to the group on:

1) What kind of evidence exists for or against the legality and safety of such a project? (i.e. laws, anecdotes, case studies, etc.)

2) Is this idea, overall, worth the logistical hassle?

3) Are there some particularly good alternatives that would have the same "wow" factor (i.e. allows students to experiment with variables and has a neat effect) but with decreased risk.

Any suggestions or insights would be most welcome!

Melissa Anderson
Chemistry Instructor
Pasadena City College
Pasadena, CA
--- This e-mail is from DCHAS-L, the e-mail list of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety. For more information about the list, contact the Divisional secretary at secretary**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org

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