Is there a History of science experiments?

by wtf_ever_man

Point me to where this can go if its in the wrong place.

I've been thinking about how humans seem to know so much about the world and how we have gotten to the point we have and I am curious if there is a list anywhere or if there is a source that explains(or how I may try to replicate myself) the science experiments from the past.

I'm thinking of any field, optics, motion, light, etc.

I'd love to do some of these experiments with my kids but haven't found a good source on how they went about actually doing them.

Thank you.

restricteddata

I think there's going to be a big gap between "replicating historical science experiments" and "things you can do with your kids." There are lots of historical science experiments but they tend to involve specialized equipment and require you to be an expert in the field. Students often replicate aspects of historical science experiments in science classes but they still require specialized equipment. E.g., it would be easy to replicate Torricelli's experiment if you had a vacuum pump, mercury, and other things that you are unlikely to have unless you are already a scientist. I have a friend who replicates historical particle physics experiments, but he has hardware that you probably don't have (like a nuclear reactor — not joking). I know people who replicate historical chemistry experiments but they require fume hoods, specialized glassware, and lab training if you don't want to do something dangerous.

I think you would be better off just looking for science experiments that you can do at home (which is a rather large sub-genre of kid science stuff), rather than replicating historical ones, as actual historical experiments are usually not that easy to replicate, even with modern equipment (and especially without it).