Talk:Screaming jelly babies
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Wow, what a terribly dangerous experiment.
I've seen it done loads of times without any problems.It is definately a demo for chemistry teachers rather than pupils which is why I've added the safety warning to the chemistry experiment page
Maybe the Wikipedia would be better served with chemistry experiments that don't involve heating unstable chemicals until they melt...
personally I'm in favour of just adding information to wikipedia and not worrying how best to serve it. Although you do have a point. So far in wikipedia, not many experiments have been added at all. Lot's of science info, but no practical advice. I suppose we do have some responsibility towards potential readers. I'd hate to be in anyway responsible for someone getting hurt. Yet, to self-censure info goes against the grain for me. It's also IMO against the whole idea of an encyclopaedia, which is supposed to represent all knowledge not just the knowledge which is safe to know. I suppose the solution is to add safety warnings and suggest alternative chemicals on the page.
And does this really need its own page? Might be better to just expand the "Chemistry practicals" page...
I'm hoping that the chemistry practicals page will grow into a very long list. Besides with it's own page it can be linked to pages on energy in food etc.
- I think it's brilliant! :) Except that... is it really an encyclopaedia article? It seems to me that an article would say something like, "The screaming jelly babies experiment is a demonstration of the oxidizing power of potassium chlorate, first performed in 1827 by Michael Faraday," or something along those lines - describing what the experiment is, rather than giving instructions on how to do it. I wouldn't have thought that an encyclopaedia should be an instruction manual. But then again, I've seen quite a few things like this - recipes and so on - so maybe there is a consensus to allow such things... -- Oliver P. 19:33 Feb 12, 2003 (UTC)
- I agree with Oliver. It needs a bit of a tweak to read more like an encyclopedia article. A backlink to Chemistry practicals would be good too... though Chemistry practicals needs renaming -- Tarquin 21:31 Feb 12, 2003 (UTC)
- Ok I've added an itro to make it partially more like a typical article. As for renaming chemistry practicals I was thinking of renaming it School Chemistry experiments and demonstrations, and doing the same with physics and biology practicals - what do you think? Theresa knott