I well remember the fun we had making this stuff during my schooldays. The things we do just to make a loud bang.
5 comments:
John Arthur
said...
Ah, yes. I remember the whole science sixth form marching up and down the headmaster's drive detonating the stuff after he found we had seeded it with NI3.
We used to get the same effect putting a Brocks Little Demon or Thunderclap in a metal dustbin and seeing how high the lid went, not a lot of science involved but the power would often distort the walls of the dustbin, they don't make them like that anymore!
John - what fun - even better than walking up and down on bubble wrap.
Wiggia - I wish we'd thought of that. We tried making miniature cannons using the gunpowder from a Little Demon or similar and a peashooter with one end blocked off. I can't really remember how well they worked though.
The other thing our naughty chem. master taught us was to make a couple of holes in an empty, large, think about 10" dia. by 10" high, catering-size Hescafé tin. One hole is in the middle of the lid and the other in the side close to the base. The holes are large enough so that a rubber tube, one end connected to a gas tap and the other having been freed from its Bunsen burner, can fit. The tube goes into the hole near the base and the gas turned on. When it was clear that the tin was purged of air and only neat gas was issuing from the hole in the lid (we had smelly old coal gas then) then a match was put to the gas. Now the gas tap was turned off and the tube pulled out of the lower hole. The gas continued to burn and air was sucked in at the base until an explosive mixture was formed....
This was done in the doorway of the chem. lab and the first time the Head had only just turned away after peering down at the lid. The noise as the lid hit the top of the doorway made him jump! Not sure what happened to the chem. master!
John - that's one I've never seen done although it rings a faint bell as if someone once described the idea. It's a good illustration of the danger of gas when mixed with air and why gas explosions can be so damaging.
5 comments:
Ah, yes. I remember the whole science sixth form marching up and down the headmaster's drive detonating the stuff after he found we had seeded it with NI3.
We used to get the same effect putting a Brocks Little Demon or Thunderclap in a metal dustbin and seeing how high the lid went, not a lot of science involved but the power would often distort the walls of the dustbin, they don't make them like that anymore!
John - what fun - even better than walking up and down on bubble wrap.
Wiggia - I wish we'd thought of that. We tried making miniature cannons using the gunpowder from a Little Demon or similar and a peashooter with one end blocked off. I can't really remember how well they worked though.
The other thing our naughty chem. master taught us was to make a couple of holes in an empty, large, think about 10" dia. by 10" high, catering-size Hescafé tin. One hole is in the middle of the lid and the other in the side close to the base. The holes are large enough so that a rubber tube, one end connected to a gas tap and the other having been freed from its Bunsen burner, can fit. The tube goes into the hole near the base and the gas turned on. When it was clear that the tin was purged of air and only neat gas was issuing from the hole in the lid (we had smelly old coal gas then) then a match was put to the gas. Now the gas tap was turned off and the tube pulled out of the lower hole. The gas continued to burn and air was sucked in at the base until an explosive mixture was formed....
This was done in the doorway of the chem. lab and the first time the Head had only just turned away after peering down at the lid. The noise as the lid hit the top of the doorway made him jump! Not sure what happened to the chem. master!
John - that's one I've never seen done although it rings a faint bell as if someone once described the idea. It's a good illustration of the danger of gas when mixed with air and why gas explosions can be so damaging.
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