jswordy
Senior Member
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- Jan 12, 2012
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Me too. Better bang in coffee or Pringles cans!
Built a carbide cannon out of pipe for a science fair project! It shot D cell batteries perfectly!
Me too. Better bang in coffee or Pringles cans!
We used a coffee can or a paint can and the lid was our projectile. We used a nail to make a hole in the can near the bottom, put the carbide in, spit on the carbide, put the lid on, angled the can on a brick or a stone, waited a short time, put one foot on the can and then set a match to the hole. The lid went a long way and we are fortunate no one was harmed.An example of my childhood: Can of calcium carbide pellets. Rainy day puddles in the street. Matches.
In the last week of HS, we put 5 bovines in the school. We did not know that cattle can climb stairs. but how they got into the one elevator, I will never know.
I recall in HS chemistry class, we discovered that in mixing two chemicals (and I cannot recall what they were), one a liquid and one a powder, we would be left with a precipitate that had a very interesting property. The precipitate was safe to handle when it was wet but when it dried, it would explode on contact. Using our teenage ingenuity, we found a "practical" use for the precipitate and would make significant quantities of it. We would then take a hand full of the wet precipitate, go into the hallway and sling the compound down the length of the hall way between classes. By the time for class change, the compound had dried so that when students from other classes walked down the hallway, they would set off minor explosions, much like a cap in a cap gum.Oh yeah, I too lived in a fireworks illegal state. But that didn't keep us from getting M80s, Black Cats, etc. The railroad was a big employer then, and we'd get train warning packs and take them apart. These were explosive packs work crews would wire to the track to warn trains that a crew was ahead. Inside was a yellow cake of explosive and when the train ran over it it went off. We'd chip tiny pieces off the cake and hit them with a hammer. POW! It'd blow the hammer back in your hands. The railroad was also good for walking the tracks collecting old flares that were unburned. We'd get the remaining sulphur out of them. I once built a Plaster of Paris volcano and filled it with sulphur and firecrackers. An M-80 at bottom. Took it to school for extra credit, lit it up with the whole class standing around outside, and WOOOW! Tha M-80 blew the volcano up at the end. Still burned trash in those days, too, and gasoline was the fuel of choice to start it. Lots of adventures there, too. Hoo boy - How I am alive I dunno....
I recall in HS chemistry class, we discovered that in mixing two chemicals (and I cannot recall what they were), one a liquid and one a powder, we would be left with a precipitate that had a very interesting property. The precipitate was safe to handle when it was wet but when it dried, it would explode on contact. Using our teenage ingenuity, we found a "practical" use for the precipitate and would make significant quantities of it. We would then take a hand full of the wet precipitate, go into the hallway and sling the compound down the length of the hall way between classes. By the time for class change, the compound had dried so that when students from other classes walked down the hallway, they would set off minor explosions, much like a cap in a cap gum.
Fun with science!
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