I suck at introductions, but what the hell

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Hi all,

I've recently deduced that I have Asperger's. I've always known I was different; at school while I was always the smartest kid in the class I was never able to really get anybody else. Conversation with the vast majority of people has always felt empty and false; there has only been a handful of people who I've been able to talk with and for it to actually feel real, and I know that at least one of those people had Asperger's as well. Finding people who are like me has always been incredibly difficult and rare; I can't say there have been terribly many people in my life who have had the remotest clue who I am. So after a long period of introspection and wondering why I have some of the difficulties I do, I started reading about Asperger's, and it was like somebody flicking a switch in my head - so many things that had puzzled me about myself now made sense. It was certainly nice to know that some of my more appalling social blunders, which have haunted me for so long, are actually nothing really out of the ordinary for someone like me, and that I'm perhaps not quite as screwed up as I thought I was. Learning about this has made me feel a lot better about myself.

So, anyway, joining this forum seemed like the logical thing to do.

My interests are chemistry, mythology, philosophy, history, weapons of mass destruction (the inspiration for my avatar) and Nazi Germany. I've probably missed a few, but I'm sure I'll remember soon enough.

Welcome To WP

Welcome^^

Hi

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

Arcayn,

I am very much in the same point in my life as you, and just a few years older. It took me a long time to come to this realization. Know that you are not alone. Reading about Asperger's and seeing everyting just "fit" me, all the pieces of my life which have remained inexplicable until now are starting to make sense. I too often feel that nobody really knows me, even my clsoest friends and family, and have felt that way for decades.

I too have an interest in philosophy, history, and chemistry (I play with homemade gunpowder. Don't ask me why, I'm well aware of the dangers, it just absorbs and excites me in an odd way, being able to control something so potentially destructive. I can't help it.)

I as well was usually the smartest kid in the class, and cannot tolerate idle conversation.

To WrongPlanet!! !

Hello and welcome to the Wrong Planet community, Arcanyn.

Welcome to WP!

Hey Keirts,

Nice to come across someone else who knows the joys of crazy home experimentation! I've always had a lot of fun experimenting with stuff like chlorine gas, strong acids and bases and the like. I even made sodium metal at one point (through the electrolysis of a molten solution of NaOH, unfortunately I wasn't really able to effectively store it; it had a tendency to spontaneously ignite and explode before I had a chance to immerse it in my nearby beaker of liquid hydrocarbons). I'm not all -that- into pyrotechnics and explosives (though they can be a lot of fun; I expecially like making green flames - they're pretty), mostly I experiment to try to fill gaps in my knowledge in matters for which the textbooks are silent. I hope to oneday have a proper lab of my own, though I'm still to figure out a (legal) way to get the cash for that. I'd love to be able to muck around with some more exotic chemistry (particularly xenon compounds and the like).

Hey I made sodium metal once too!

My trick was to introduce other salts to impurify it (if that's a word), which made it more stable. Got to see it in action at a family men's gathering where we were building medieval siege equipment. We catapulted it into a lake. That was fun.

The fascination for me is taking meticulous time and effort and preparation into making something explosive like that, holding my life in my hands while I create it, and to be able to determine precisely the moment it will explode. That feeling of control is indescribable. I've toyed with the idea of making more potent explosives, but I think the dangers outweigh the "fun" value I would get out of it.

Funny how sometimes it comes in so useful, like when getting rust off metal tools with nothing more than a battery, a bolt, and a few wires.

I assume the idea is to ensure another metal is produced at the same time, thus producing an alloy less reactive than the pure metal?

That does seem plausible. I remember in high school our chemistry teacher let us make a lithium/potassium alloy from the molten electrolysis of the chlorides, and there was no problem with spontaneous explosions there, even though it was around 600 degrees C or so (compared to the ~330 degrees with my sodium electrolysis). Perhaps I should try mixing in some lithium hydroxide next time I do it; it should increase the energy density of it as well .