The Lab Coat

There aren’t many constants in this world upon which you can
rely with absolute, unfailing certainty,
but one of the few I’ve found is that when
The Boy
gets a bee in his bonnet,
one will not hear the end of it for a
Very.  Long.  Time.

The first bee in his bonnet,
following that disastrous moment when Uncle Jeff
introduced him to
Dr. Horrible,
and the Mad Scientist obsession was born,
was the goggles.

So he earned a little money, and he was able to buy these ultra cool shades.

And ever since that day in early February,
there’s been a theme to everything
that comes out of his mouth:

(From over in the office while he’s at his computer…)
“Mom, come here and look at this Lab Coat I found online!”

(Popping up behind me while I’m at the computer…)
“Lab coat!”

(From the back seat while we’re driving to church…)
“Mom, when can I get a lab coat?”

(Through the bathroom door when I’m brushing my teeth…)
“Lab-coat-Lab-coat-Lab-coat!”

Finally the day came when he had saved enough money in his savings jar
and we could go to the uniform store
and
Actually Get The Lab Coat!!!

It was a profoundly gratifying moment,
especially when he was allowed to wear it out of the store.

The full costume.

Well… almost… he has already begun saving for the last piece of the outfit:

Black PVC coated Gloves

Now, you might think that all this is just for fun and dress up and play,
but that would be incorrect.

It is imperative, for a
Real Scientist,
to be properly dressed for work.

And once properly dressed,
it is imperative for a
Real Scientist
to actually do some
Real Science!

Thus, last evening we found ourselves crammed, all six of us, into my tiny
kitchen Scientific Laboratory
to view a couple of experiments,
which went like this:

1.  Pour water in the beaker.

2.  Add enough granulated sugar to cover the bottom up to about 1/4 of an inch.

3.  Stir until granulated sugar dissolves.

4.  Look at mother menacingly in true Dr. Horrible fashion.

5.  Have your dad pour a bunch of concentrated sulfuric acid into the water.

6.  Watch the bubbles begin to form in the solution as it gets hotter and hotter.

7.  …and hotter and hotter!

8.  Wow, that’s hot!!

9.  OUCH!!

~*~*~*~*~

Ok, that was cool.

What else can we do?
How about….

Dumping baking soda into the hot sulfuric acid solution!

This had the dual benefit of causing a big, dramatic reaction,
and also neutralizing the solution before pouring it down the drain.

~*~*~*~*~

Ok, that was fun, now what else can we do?

How about…

At the end of the day, when all is said and done,
what boy doesn’t think

a lump of pure carbon is awesome?