16 year old girl arrested, charged with felony for science project

In 7th grade i did a show&tell on propulsion.. I brought in 30 feet of model railroad track and set it up on the floor.
I had previously removed the payload out of a 6" skyrocket (the pretty part that blows up at the tip), and strapped the remaining rocket tube, with fuse, to a railroad flat car. Putting the car on one end of the track, I lit the fuse and the flatcar went down the track so fast that it embedded itself in the plaster wall on the other end. The year was 1960 (talk about dating yourself).

Anyway, I wound up in the principal's office, but was back in school the next day. I can only imagine what would happen if this was pulled off today. The teacher screamed and the room filled up with so much smoke, everyone had to leave the room. It truly was a great demonstration of propulsion.

True story.

reply to post by Ghost375


Well, I would have been locked up for multiple life times.

You are assuming BTW that she did not have a great deal of experience with these chemicals, that she had not done the experiment many times at home. You are assuming that she was not wearing protection. You are also assuming that she did not have all the onlookers move to a safe distance based on her previous experiments.

In short, you have made up your mind that what she did was unsafe!

That seems to be based on how you may have acted at that age!

There is no data as yet to show it was unsafe. In fact, that she did conduct her own experiment is a given. That no one was hurt is a given.

Give the young lady an A in Chemistry, send a letter home and let the matter rest.

I played with all sorts of stuff through high schools. I studied hard, I took all the necessary precautions both at school and at home. I did not ever harm myself or any one else. She conducted an experiment safely!

P

RIP Don Herbert, Mr WIZARD

he's probably rolling over in his grave now over this

So, are CHEMISTRY SETS now illegal and carry the charge of WMDs, too?

this my seem like a strange question, but was she black? i just cant see a 16yr old white girl getting strung out like this, i could be wrong, but does the story mention something about a charge that was ''race related''?

I live in Aus so the social politics and race relations of the situation are foreign to me, this was just the first thing that popped into my mind.

Nah nothing to worry about folks, its all A ok, she deserves to have
her whole life ruined because she is a stupid kid doing stupid kid
things, if they arrest and charge her then im next cause as a child
i built A TON of these, but you know she has nothing to fear so
long as she does nothing wrong..... i mean our justice system
is so honest and well, just that they never over react and completely
destroy a childs life because of a mistake, one that any child could
and many have made, HOME OF THE KINDA SORTA FREE and
the LAND OF THE BRAVES, the baseball team because there
is nothing brave about punishing a child so harshly for a stupid
mistake.........

Originally posted by Ghost375

Originally posted by Agent008
reply to post by Ghost375

 

So as a kid you never did anything stupid or set something on fire or blow something up or in general be a kid?

I didn't take out chemicals from under the sink and try mixing them together. That's the topic at hand. That is not normal kids being kids behavior. Don't try to change the subject or to turn this into an attack on me because you can't debate my points.

Really Dude? Are you trolling or just inept?
Just because you had a crappy childhood (did daddy leave you?) doesn't mean people like you in powerful positions should ruin it for all kids.

"Get messy! Make mistakes!" --The Magic School Bus.

Then their is this The Dangerous Book for Boys

Originally posted by Ghost375

Originally posted by stars15k
Nobody cared and we both turned out fine.
The world has gone nuts.

This topic is deadly serious, and I'll repeat....ATS is showing extreme ignorance right now.

Don't really know what to say about your remarks.

Did the kid do something stupid? Absolutely. Should the kid be punished? Probably. Should the kid be arrested and charged with a felony, when no one was injured and it was an innocent experiment? No way.

Originally posted by Freeborn
If a kid nowadays did half of the things I did all them years ago back in school I think they'd be sectioned off for life - and guess what, I've grown up to become a (reasonably) well adjusted adult who's never blown anything or anyone up, in fact I've never even had the slightest inclination to.

If there's malice intended then sure some sort of action is required but......?

Kids should be left alone and allowed to be kids.

ETA.
With hindsight I must say that bit about not wanting to blow anything up is untrue - I'd love to blow The Houses Of Parliament up and maybe one or two other 'revered' buildings and establishments but that's a completely different subject altogether.

edit on 1/5/13 by Freeborn because: Add ETA

I'm 30 years old and I'm about to say something that I never imagined myself saying in my lifetime, or atleast not saying so soon. Back when I was that age things were different. In 6th grade we made explosives, in 7th grade we made catapults for a science class that pelted homes with eggs. In 8th grade we made a trebuchet that launched pumpkins off of school grounds. In 9th grade we made gunpowder. In 10th grade we had no science but students brought firearms to school (left in their cars). In 11th grade chemistry we made gas that could be classified today as a chemical weapon and a common prank was to put silver nitrate on goggles to leave black marks on peoples skin. In 12 grade physics we were taught how frequency could destroy objects and we even built a bridge then destroyed it with such a device. Later we made rockets with remote controlled detonators and were taught how to calculate launch trajectories to hit a target.

That was not very long ago. What ever happened to applied knowledge? Much less a felony charge over something completely harmless?

reply to post by LogicGrind

Wow really that's your evidence the fact that a few teacher didn't know about the girls experiment, means that it was not a scientific experiment. Thanks for clearing that up I guess all scientific experiments in the world don't count unless you have 24' 7 supervision. The report states nothing was damaged and no one was hurt.

Geeez one could only imagine the punishment this little girl would have received if she mixed up some bleach with hydrochloric acid or ammonia....

IMO common sense has gone out the window on this one.

Not enough information to make up my mind. I'm sure that the authorities have their justifications and they're probably right, but I wonder if it's possibly to overdo our justice system sometimes.

I was reading in the paper the other day about the need for more prisons. A lady mentioned that some other countries have figured out ways to reduce crime more creatively, but she's ignored.

We can't see more than a few feet beyond. We only trust what's right here with us. Thinking outside the box or stepping outside the box in any way whatsoever is considered reckless.

Our government is becoming bloated. We're becoming bloated too. It's a perilous dance.

Government is right sometimes. Punishing this girl is right too. She should be more aware of what's legal and what's not. So should her principal. What do I know. But I'm skeptical, as always.

More and more rules added on top of other rules just so we can protect ourselves from each other. We spend trillions globally ever couple years to protect ourselves from ourselves, ya know.

Things have been and are getting way out of hand. now I admit that if that science teacher had no knowledge of the "project" then more then likely she is just trying to get away with it. so i would say a form of punishment should be applied here. i remember when i was a kid the big thing back then was M80's in trash cans and restrooms. Today try anything like that and you will be lucky if the US gov does not do a drone strike on you're house and kill you're entire family. then the news reports that you're M80 firecrackers are infact a bomb with the impact of 5 nuke warheads. and you're great great great grandparents sold goat milk to some terrorist 200 years ago.

reply to post by trollz


Ladies and gents, if you haven't already... Check out #KieraWilmot on twitter and sign the petition. www.change.org...

There's too much ignorance in the world. It's time we start trying to put an end to it.

reply to post by jonnywhite


Jon... The "Bomb" she made doesn't have enough pressure to break skin unless you're standing right on top of it. It's a simple pressure vessel made of plastic. The vessel makes loud pop before the pressure can build up to dangerous levels.

Originally posted by strings0305
reply to post by trollz

 

Ladies and gents, if you haven't already... Check out #KieraWilmot on twitter and sign the petition. www.change.org...

There's too much ignorance in the world. It's time we start trying to put an end to it.

I signed! I just saw this story pop up on one of my FB news feeds. So people are starting to pay attention good job everyone

That's such a grossly inappropriate response to a child's display of intellectual curiosity, i.e. let's see what happens if I try this experiment? Kids should be encouraged to be curious, to experiment, to experience life within safe bounds. She did nothing to justify the school's, the police', and prosecutor's response.

reply to post by trollz


let me guess sno bowl and aluminum foil in a water bottle. Shake it up and wait. As long as there was no live bomb materials in it I see it as science lol I done that kinda stuff when I was a kid.

Nah, probably won't get charged with a felony. Take it to trial and with an attorney that could explain a fraction of the nonsensicalness of the charge and the jury would more than likely go in her favor, a good chance in any case.

You can only hope that everyone involved in this case, teachers for reporting her, police who arrested her, and prosecutors who prosecute her are thoroughly ashamed of themselves, either now or in the future!
A bit of shame and repentance is in order here!!

Hope the young lady takes up home schooling........it's a great way to learn without interference from half brained morons.

Good luck young lady!!

Christ, Back when I was in High School (We don't have Middle school here in Australia) Kids were Building all sorts of stuff I.E.D's out of coke bottles and Napalm they put batteries, ball bearings, Nuts and Bolts in these as well as pieces of shrapnel and Nails lit one and Kicked it right at My head Hurt like hell you got No idea what this felt like!