I have two editions of "The Boy Electrician". The 1940's edition
is full of doing interesting things such as you describe, and
includes info on setting up your own X-Ray tubes with
attendant HT supplies!

The 1960's edition has been fully sanitised (Odd, because if
predates the Health and Safety paranoia by several years) and
all experiments revolve around 9 volt batteries.

Walt Davidson wrote:
On 27 Nov 2005 03:48:53 -0800, "MonoCalculus"
wrote:

When I was a lad, old dry cells were a source of interesting scrap,
carbon rods, zinc flashing, brass strips and brass terminals.

I remember, as a child, taking apart the cells from Ever-Ready "Number
8" batteries. There was a carbon rod with a small brass cap fitted to
the top. Surrounding this, there was a paste of manganese dioxide and
carbon powder, contained in a gauze bag that resembled a piece of
old-fashioned roller bandage. The remainder of the space inside the
zinc can was filled with a paste of ammonium chloride mixed with some
inert powder. The whole thing was sealed with a substance like
Vaseline to keep the contents moist, and a circular cardboard cover
with a hole in the centre for the carbon rod to pass through.

I once succeeded in making an arc lamp with two of the carbon rods!
I made hydrogen by dissolving the zinc cans in sulphuric acid (battery
acid).
:-)

--
Walt Davidson Email: g3nyy @despammed.com