In the 1940′s practically every issue of Popular Science had a detailed chemistry article with experiments for teens to perform. I’m going to begin posting them in the new Chemistry category.

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Learn About SULPHURIC ACID – No. 1 War Chemical

WARNING

NEVER pour water into concentrated sulphuric acid. They will boil and spatter over the room. This is caused by the acid’s great affinity for water. The only safe way is to pour the acid into the water, stirring constantly. Likewise, concentrated sulphuric acid will draw water out of the skin, leaving a dangerous burn.
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PROTRUDING EARS?

PRIMSET—a simple and marvelous new method, sets them in natural position and improves appearance IMMEDIATELY. INVISIBLE, COMFORTABLE. HARMLESS—can be employed any time without detection. Use corrects deformity quickly with children, eventually with adults. Endorsed by physicians as best known method for straightening ears. Complete outfit, guaranteed—$3.00. U. S. residents can pay postman.
U.S. residents can pay postman.
Prim Specialties Corp.
Dept. T-5, 55 West 42nd St., New York

This is insane. I don’t trust myself to make an improvised shelf, let alone a gas mask. Plus, a gas mask that requires you to hold your nose while breathing does not exactly inspire confidence.

Civilian Designs Simple Gas Mask
With the threat of gas raids hanging” over more and more cities in Europe, the demand for gas masks in many communities far exceeds the supply. To provide some sort of gas protection in case of an emergency, an ingenious Scandinavian inventor has designed the improvised mask shown at the left. It consists simply of a hollow wooden tube and a cloth bag filled with chemicals. Air purified by the chemicals is sucked into the mouth through the tube, while the nose is held shut with the thumb and forefinger of the hand holding the mask.

DON’T QUIT SMOKING
before giving my pipe a 30 Day Trial
New principle that contradicts every idea you’ ve ever had about pipe smoking. I guarantee it to smoke cool and mild hour after hour, day after day, without rest, without bite, bitterness or sludge. To prove it, I’ll let you try a new Carey Pipe. Send your name and address today for my free complete trial offer. Write:
E. A.CAREY, 1920 Sunnyside Ave., Dept 281 -B. Chicago40

Gas-Station Attendants Wear Roller Skates
Attendants wearing roller skates make quick work of filling a motorist’s needs, at an Oklahoma service station. Practiced in performing all their duties on wheels, they fill a customer’s gas tank, check his water and oil, clean his windshield and windows, and send him on his way with a minimum of delay. According to the proprietor who put the idea into use, patrons have expressed their hearty approval of the innovation —after getting over their astonishment on seeing the attendants approach their cars in this unusual fashion.

Where would you even use a homemade bobsled?

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Streamlined Bobsled

Chills, thrills, and spills make the sport of bobsledding a zestful experience you’ll never forget, and this two-man job will enable you and a friend to share exciting rides.

THE chief objective in the design of this bobsled was to provide a streamlined canopy that completely encloses the driver and brakeman. I had made some rough calculations using some data based on the use of an unstreamlined sled which indicated that a substantial increase in speed could be expected from even a moderate amount of streamlining.
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Why Don’t We Build… Underwater Tanks

We need such a weapon for beachhead invasions … we have already solved its technical problems.

By Frank Tinsley

EVEN at the outset of our World War II campaign of island conquest in the Pacific, it became evident that some form of armor was needed to spearhead landing operations. The old technique of wooden landing barges and surf-spattered Marines was obviously inadequate. To pit unprotected flesh and blood against an array of underwater obstacles, mines and wire entanglements, backed up by well concealed and heavily bunkered machine-gun nests, mortars and artillery, was a murderous waste of expensively trained men.
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HONEYMOON HAT for Moon use in 2056 has dual antennas so newlyweds can call Earth and tell in-laws to stay home.

Excellent article focusing on robots and computers (they didn’t really distinguish between the two at this point). Topics include: self-driving cars, robot elephants, prime number crunching computers, automatic factories, automatic sewing machines, etc. It even mentions self replicating Von Neumann machines.

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The ROBOTS Are Coming!

Our civilization is being invaded by a horde of mechanical men who are determined to change our way of life. But there’s no need to worry. It’s all in the spirit of good fellowship.

By Lester David

A STRANGE, awesome army of Things is invading the planet Earth!

This is not science fiction but cold fact. The Vanguard of this army is here already and has secured a firm beachhead. A vast body of others is on the way.

These weird monsters are busy altering your world even now. Within the next several decades, after they are firmly entrenched in farm, home, laboratory and factory, your work, your habits, your entire life will be unrecognizable.
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Bike Craze Raging-Rentals Make Money

CREDITED to comely Miss Joan Crawford who started daily bike riding six years ago as a method of keeping physically fit, the bike riding fad has swept to all corners of the nation. Bicycle makers rub their hands with gusto, wink at the Depression, and continue to sell great quantities of wheels at around twenty dollars per machine.
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MUSICAL FREAKS Win Fame for MAJOR BOWES’ Amateurs

All right, all right! Wire, glass, tin cans— anything. It was all the same to these boys, who made jobs grow from their mechanical ingenuity. This article relates what you didn’t hear on the radio.

IT’S marvelous how a home workshop fan can make himself famous with a broom, a saw, a dozen tin cans or a few dingy bottles picked up from a junk pile.
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Transparent Face Mask
Slipped over the head, a bag of cellulose tissue designed for use in skiing and other outdoor sports offers protection for the face without interfering with vision. The transparent mask can also be used as a shower cap, an apron, a tray cover, and a turban, the makers say.