How to make a laboratory stand out?

My high school is doing a production of "the science of murder". I am co-designing the set and I am trying to figure out what I can add to it. There are two electric type chairs and a table full of beakers and such. What else can I add on a low budget to make it look like a mad scientist laboratory. I was thinking some sort of machine with pipes leading out and stuff but I'm not sure. It's really low budget and we have a short amount of time to build it. Any suggestions?
 
Make friends with your school's chem teacher. I'm sure she/he can furnish you with 1) plenty of 'mad scientist' ideas and 2) most of the hardware to assemble them. Probably loan you the stuff, as long as you don't break the glassware.
 
My high school is doing a production of "the science of murder". I am co-designing the set and I am trying to figure out what I can add to it. There are two electric type chairs and a table full of beakers and such. What else can I add on a low budget to make it look like a mad scientist laboratory. I was thinking some sort of machine with pipes leading out and stuff but I'm not sure. It's really low budget and we have a short amount of time to build it. Any suggestions?
@Eli Vatsaas Google "images Ruben's tube". Do a little reading then put your creative thinking cap on and let your imagination run wild. Consider a four or six foot length of schedule 40 4" ID PVC pipe with thin plastic or rubber sheeting tightly sealed around both ends and a row of 1/8 inch diameter holes drilled in a straight line from end to end with the aid of a V-block in a drill press to keep them in a straight and pretty, equally spaced, line. Add gas from a gas valve on your physics teacher's desk and modulate the wave with a four inch speaker tightly sealed outside the plastic or rubber sheeting on one end of your tube. Consider playing a mix of pure sine wave tones at a variety of amplitudes interspersed with some of your favorite music. If you manage to pull this off PLEASE post a few photos or videos of your efforts. I suspect you can make this work satisfactorily without needing to insert tubular metal inserts in the row of parallel holes by beginning your holes with a 1/16 inch bit and gradually incrementing each hole's diameter up to achieve a clean through-hole minus any burrs or fracturing of the edges on the inner wall of your PVC tube.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
 
@Eli Vatsaas Google "images Ruben's tube". Do a little reading then put your creative thinking cap on and let your imagination run wild. Consider a four or six foot length of schedule 40 4" ID PVC pipe with thin plastic or rubber sheeting tightly sealed around both ends and a row of 1/8 inch diameter holes drilled in a straight line from end to end with the aid of a V-block in a drill press to keep them in a straight and pretty, equally spaced, line. Add gas from a gas valve on your physics teacher's desk and modulate the wave with a four inch speaker tightly sealed outside the plastic or rubber sheeting on one end of your tube. Consider playing a mix of pure sine wave tones at a variety of amplitudes interspersed with some of your favorite music. If you manage to pull this off PLEASE post a few photos or videos of your efforts. I suspect you can make this work satisfactorily without needing to insert tubular metal inserts in the row of parallel holes by beginning your holes with a 1/16 inch bit and gradually incrementing each hole's diameter up to achieve a clean through-hole minus any burs or fracturing of the edges on the inner wall of your PVC tube.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
I had a teacher who had one of these and it was cool. But in the theatre, without gas valves, I wouldn’t be able to pull it off.
 
I had a teacher who had one of these and it was cool. But in the theatre, without gas valves, I wouldn’t be able to pull it off.
@Eli Vatsaas Don't campers and RV'ers have low pressure propane tanks in your area which aren't too expensive to have refilled? Think positive. Overcome obstacles. DON'T set fire to your school and be certain not to locate your demo' unit directly under a fire sprinkler, smoke detector or temperature sensor.
EDIT: @Eli Vatsaas Here's a link to a 'do it yourself' Ruben's tube video on Google: https://www.google.ca/search?rlz=1C...-ab..0.12.1329...0i131k1j0i10k1.0.-LLuWxhMHjA
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
 
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Jacobs Ladder. Every mad scientist needs a Jacobs ladder. Do the right thing, however, and put a clear plastic tube around it. They can be dangerous if simply left exposed. They are simple to make and relatively inexpensive. There are videos all over the place on how to build them All you need is some small steel rod, 1/8" or so, and a Neon transformer, 10kv or so.

Also, you could build something the looks like a Van De Graaff Generator. A non-functional one could be assembled from PVC pipe a box and a couple Dollar tree Metal mixing bowls. Heck, you could probably even dress up the base with some flashy lights.

And anything with Curly wires. Get stranded wire of whatever gauge you want. wrap it around a length of appropriately sized <diameter> tube or dowel. The warm the wire with a heat gun. Let it sit over night. Slide it off the tube and viola you have curly wires! Nothing says Mad Scientist like curly wires running between components in a lab. < Except maybe a Jacobs ladder.>
 
Ruben's tube
This is cool; never seen it before. But I gotta be the one to say: do not do it on stage. You'd need a licensed pyrotechnician for that.

My contribution is: lights. Practical lights (things that produce light on the set) are the top way to spruce up a set. Try setting your beakers on puck lights to make them glow, or do a bank of gem lights as a controller for something, or any of a hundred things.

Ron brought up google images; a huge key to set design is research. Think of different search terms and go down rabbit holes. You don't need to generate ideas sitting alone in a dark room; go looking for them!
 
This is cool; never seen it before. But I gotta be the one to say: do not do it on stage. You'd need a licensed pyro technician for that.
@kicknargel I always thought a great application for a Ruben's tube would be running across the full width of the meter bridge on your Yamaha PM2000 48 input analog console fed by an auxiliary via a foot peddle. My thinking is it would give the clods with ashtrays and partially filled beer steins a warning to look elsewhere for a horizontal surface to leave their donations.
@TimMc Thoughts?
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
 
In your search for sciency looking THINGS, check out thrift shops and the local dollar stores.
I'm thinking you will need some kind of complex looking control panel. Build a console out of thin plywood (consider slightly used wall paneling, like from Habitat for Humanity) and glue on some silver foil wrapping paper. Some of it would look like brushed stainless steel. Add some blinky lights, cheap led strands behind holes in the box. What would be awesome is to borrow a plasma globe for the top, or in a hole in the front of the box.
PLASMA GLOBE
 
Fill a table with "lab glass" beakers, test tubes, jars etc. Fill them with colored water backlit with led lighting. Then fill the jars with dry ice so it bubbles and smokes. You can have a larger bucket that has more dry ice than others and pours out large volumes of "smoke"
 
My high school is doing a production of "the science of murder". I am co-designing the set and I am trying to figure out what I can add to it. There are two electric type chairs and a table full of beakers and such. What else can I add on a low budget to make it look like a mad scientist laboratory. I was thinking some sort of machine with pipes leading out and stuff but I'm not sure. It's really low budget and we have a short amount of time to build it. Any suggestions?
This is how the set turned out, thank you for all your suggestions.
 

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Thanks for sharing your end result.
 
Oh Man! I love the Vann De Graff and Tesla coils! And the over-sized knife switch it great!
 

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