Be nice, it's completely free!
Before judging people, take a moment to overthink why people do the things the way they do. Do you think that operating a SOX lamp is taught to you when you study chemistry? Or in lab tech class?
I can assure you that in lab tech class, there is not a single mention about the specific burning conditions of SOX lamps. For this type of demontration, you typically use a GP20NA polarimeter lamp which operates in any orientation. But those things run 250 euro if you buy them from the science supply house, and if you can find a SOX at a quarter of that price, it's safe to assume that your average underfunded school would like you to buy *that* instead. But then you get into stuff used by lighting engineers, not by chemistry or physics teachers. So can you expect them to know the correct burning position of any and all SOX lamps?
I think not. I sure didn't know SOX's couldn't run base down when i got mine, until i read the comments on another youtube video of all things, where someone chimed in about it!
Drop them a line about how to properly operate these things, which they have never been taught how to operate. That's how i learned it. A chemist will have a few lab stands and clamps sitting around, and considering the surface of a SOX doesn't get very hot you can make a temporary rig with two stands and two clamps holding the lamp horizontally, with the glass protected by a rag or something.
And finally, be careful when complaining about influencers. There are a lot of people genuinely good at teaching new, younger audiences like Steve Mould, Dustin (SmarterEveryday) and Kyle Hill (the nuclear physics guy). They're not the same as people promoting disposable electronics, fast fashion and other earth-depleting things.
They might be influencers judging by the audience involvement and their reach, but that's only a good thing - they get a brand new audience interested in cool applications of physics and chemistry. If more people want to try out these things by themselves, that's really good. We need more people experiencing physics and chemistry phenomena in real life, rather than through a screen, and they need to be helped instead of judged if they make mistakes.
Even if that leads to more crowding of the LPS lamp market. If anything, point people towards the new production SOX lamps, to avoid crowding of the 2nd hand collector's market and to help the current producers stay afloat by generating demand.
The generation i teach has never even seen a running LPS lamp on the streets. Let alone have seen it up close.
I've seen it all in the world of antique radios and ham radio. New people who have never touched a vintage radio before often repeat the same mistakes. The greybeards who get huffy and grumpy and essentially make it so the new generation just isn't gonna bother interacting anymore. Let's not make those same mistakes, and spread positivity and knowledge instead!
