Theodore Gray’s articles was one of the few reasons that I read Popular Science. His articles about chemistry contained both the educational information and zany antics that you see in Mythbusters. Mad Science collects fifty five of his Popular Science articles into a hardcover book.
Madness never looked so good
The cover features the author holding a flame in a fireproof glove. I can not think of a better way to represent the contents of the book . The photography throughout the book gives it a flair not seen in other chemistry books. The results of the experiments are shown in page wide layouts with a plethora of colors on every page.
Do Not Try This At Home
The book differentiates it from other science books in that a lot of the experiments are more dangerous than what you see on Mythbusters. The first experiment involves Theodore Gray salting popcorn using freshly made salt. And by freshly I mean he blows pure chlorine gas into a bowl of liquid sodium. Chlorine was at one point used for chemical warfare and sodium viciously reacts with any moisture. Do I need to say anymore? Of course there are experiments that are relatively safe to perform. These experiments range from determining whether or not a metal contains to titanium to gilding. Experiments that are really dangerous are marked with skull and crossbones while safer experiments do not.
The Writing Seals The Deal
Theodore Gray explains the science behind each experiment in a manner that anyone can explain He also includes in historical anecdotes relating to the experiment on hand. For example an experiment demonstrating the characteristic of flames in pure oxygen mentions the Apollo 1 disaster and the fact that the Saturn V rockets used it as an oxidizer. Humor is not absent from the book. The author jokes about ice cream recipes found in chemical engineering magazine and even dresses up like a cowboy.
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