Nomen Nescio writes:

Back in the early 70's when I was in High School, every Spring we
had a one day event called "Seminar Day". On Seminar Day, the
teachers would hold classes on subjects determined by a student
vote. By far, the most popular seminar (which was finally moved to the
auditorium after a couple of years, and was "standing room only") was
titled "The Chemistry of Explosions". The end of the seminar featured
a trip out to the athletic field to watch theory put into practice.
I would hazard a guess that they don't do that anymore.

In high school we liked to play around with drops of mercury in our palms, or
sticking a finger in a beaker of mercury (difficult to to, actually, since
it's so heavy). But I read not long ago about a high school in which someone
found a drop of mercury on the floor and the entire school and neighborhood
was evacuated while hazmat teams moved in to clean up.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.