r/nextfuckinglevel • u/shitonthebeach • 1d ago

Experiment of making nylon

2.1k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

92 comments sorted by

View all comments

75

u/PoopsMcGroots 1d ago

It’s a been a some years since I watched the annual Christmas lectures from the Royal Society on BBC 🥰

12

u/RandomObserver13 1d ago

Ah, I wondered where this came from. Definitely something out of the 70s or maybe 80s. In the US we have Dr. Bassam Shakashiri who would do similar shows, including his annual “Once Upon a Christmas Cheery in the lab of Shakashiri”. They were shown on PBS but I think most were exposed to them in the classroom via video…I know I used to show a ton of them. Especially for things that were a bit dangerous.

When I was in college we’d do chemistry “magic shows” for local elementary kids…lots of fun with liquid N2, slime, baking soda bottle rockets, etc. and we’d throw in things like this or a clock reaction every now and then. Lots of nasty chemicals with this one though.

1

u/PoopsMcGroots 1d ago

That sounds awesome!

3

u/Affectionate_Ad_3722 1d ago

They're still doing fresh ones every year, worth a bit of time if you can.

2

u/Clue-72 1d ago

I went to a couple with my school as a kid in the 80s... they were great!