My folks wouldn't buy me a chemistry set or even one of those electrical circuit kits for kids. So I improvised by experimenting with a battery and an old-fashioned (then current) flash bulb. I can still remember the amazingly bright flash, the searing pain, and the smell of burnt skin. I never told my folks though.
-Zz
I had the chemistry set. We also had a concrete building out back that it stayed in.
I made some hydrogen (calcium carbide + water) in a clorox bottle and was playing with the flame when I let go. It sucked inside and blew me from a sitting position to a lying position on my bedroom floor. Mom came flying in and found me in hysterics, laughing at my stupidity. They didn't make me get rid of the chemistry set, but I promised to avoid explosive experiments in the house any more.
-- Ask not what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive... then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. -- Howard Thurman
Larry Jaques wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
That generates acetylene, not hydrogen. Still, a good bang can be had ... :)
I remember the chemistry sets. But I also had a toy soldier casting set. Nothing like a 8 or 10 year old playing with molten metal. If I look closely I can still see a scar on the back of my hand where metal splashed when I poured cold water on the mold to "speed things up." My mother packed the 1/8" or so deep hole with bacon grease - no money for doctors in those days unless you were really in a bad way :-).
Oops, it had been so long I forgot what a gas it was. Thanks for the correction.
-- Ask not what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive... then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. -- Howard Thurman
Hurray for old moms! You survived well, too, dincha?
Nowadays, the hysterical mother would have rushed their darling child into the emergency room, costing the insurance company at least $1,500.00, plus whatever meds they could add onto the list.
-- Ask not what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive... then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. -- Howard Thurman
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"Han" wrote:
------------------------------------ Basic materials for effective fishing.
A 1qt glass canning jar containing carbide & water, and a rock for ballast.
Screw cap on jar, then drop into water and wait.
When pressure builds, jar explodes which stuns fish in area and they float to surface for easy pickings.
Oh the joys of youth.
Lew
Every Friday morning, the local priests walks from the town dock, past by the game warden's office with a wheelbarrow full of fish. This went on for weeks, till the game warden finally asked the priest where he caught all that fish. "Well, I catch them out behind Jones Rock, want to come along next Friday?" The game warden agreed and on Friday, they both got into a small aluminum boat and motored out to behind Jones Rock. The priest lit a cigar and used it to light the wick on a stick of dynamite and tossed it in the water. After a loud bang, the priest took out his net and started to scoop the fish while the game warden went ballistic and yelled at the priest: "Whoa, you can't do that, that's against Rule # 34 sub 16m art
22 of the Fish & Gaming Act and, and=85." The priest lit another stick of dynamite, handed it to the game warden and said: "You here to fish or are you here to talk?"
I used to go to the corner druggist and he'd take me down the cellar and weight out bulk Potassium Nitrate and bulk sulfer into paper bags for something like a quarter a pound. Add some charcoal.
scott
Yes,, but the bad guys weren't terrorists back then, they were communists. I wonder what the government will use next to scare us into submission?
You obviously don't remember carbide cannons :-).
I never could get that mixed properly - nitroglycerine was easier,
Me and Wayne used to do this too: Take a bicycle spoke (or 15-20 spokes) and bend the wire into a handle. Then, back the head off as much as you can without it falling off. Then take a whole box of caps and tear off the paper so all that was left was the powder. Jam that into the spoke head until full, then jam a grain of sand or whatever inot the little canon you just made. Then point it at a plastic army man or snail and hold a match under it. It made a perfect little "in" hole and a great big "out" hole in the snail. And it could imbed the sand grain in the army man.
Great fun.
-Zz
Do you remember lighting wooden matches with a magnifying glass? It was kind of fun. Then we noticed that if you put a match into a coricidan bottle, and then used the magnifying glass, then it would fire the plastic cap off. Two or three matches, even further. Well gosh, what would happen if you fill the coricidan bottle with matches and then use the magnifying glass. It's hard to tell, but the bottle was gone and we counted our blessings and quickly agreed not to try it again! As I recall, I was advising against that "experiment", but all too often I was in the wrong place at the right time like that. I guess my friends and I liked "action". I've got a few more stories like that, but I hate to give Lew ammunition.
Bill
ROTL ...
Ever tried to catch a guinea? Ask me about catching 'em with black cat firecrackers.
Elegant solution about what to put in the gumbo ...
A buddy of mine used to mix up nitroglycerine all the time as a teenager. He used to shoot it with a .22 pistol. Big Bang! Craters, etc.
OH, SHIT! And the next person to step in that area loses their foot to the broken glass. Broken beer bottles at the swimming holes were a real problem, too.
-- We're all here because we're not all there.
That's one thing Dad wouldn't let me have.
-- We're all here because we're not all there.
Larry Jaques wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
When we'd swim in the creek, we'd always make sure we had some form of sandles or shoes on. Who knows what's under there to step on? (We also had to watch out for floating "sticks".)
Puckdropper
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