explosions

Well its getting to be around Halloween, and you all know what that means. We get to blow up pumpkins. Well ok most people dont normally do that for Halloween, but believe it or not it is an assignment for my chemistry class.

Basically what will be happening is we are going to hoist the pumpkins up 3 stories and then drop them. My goal is to make the pumpkin explode mid fall, and i was wondering if anyone has any ideas on designs that would allow it to get lifted safely to the 3 story height, and then be dropped and exploded. Keep in mind that I am a chem student so I have full access to pretty much any chemical that would be required in order to accomplish this. It would be usefull if anyone had any ideas on detination, and/or what chemicals to use for the explosion.

If I end up using one of the designs that soeone on the board posted I'll attempt to post pictures so you can see how it went.

Thanks for your help.

I just thought up of an easy way to blow up a pumpkin..

You know those party popers that when you pull the string, it blows all the paper out? Could you tie a string to where you drop the pumpkin from? Because if so, all you have to do is drill a small hole in the pumpkin and spray a whole can of DW-40 into the pumpkin and rig up one of those popers...

boom?

What the hell kind of school allows bomb-making experiments as part of the curriculum?

Can you post a copy of the instuctions you were given? What kind of effect are you looking for, just a small boom to blow the pumpkin apart or do you want more of a pryotechnics show?
For just the bang, equal parts liquid sunlight dish detergent and powered tide laundry detergent. Combine the two in a bowl and mix until you get a sunstance similar to playdough. I suggest using a small amount, no more than a table spoon of each, as this stuff can be quite powerful if mixed correctly.There is another ingrediant, Ill PM you that ( unless the mods dont have a problem with me teaching AF'rs how to make C4 :lol: ) once i get home, for some reason I cant send PMs right now. As for the me method of detination, Ill need more info on exactly how you need to accomplish this.
If you can IM later tonight, my SN's are in my profile.

^^^hey man, could you PM me the instructions?? I usually go out with friends and do fun stuff like that. :)

Keep in mind that I am a chem student so I have full access to pretty much any chemical that would be required in order to accomplish this.

http://winn.com/bs/atombomb.html

:rofl: Who would be around to grade it.

TS out (evacuating)

What's with all these threads from people wanting help with their school work?

Has COT became the study hall or something?

every pyro's dream http://www.phreak.org/index/archive02/pyro/pyro.shtml
(mod feel free to delete if nessecary)

What the hell kind of school allows bomb-making experiments as part of the curriculum?

Perhaps he's from the Middle East?

Ok let me get more indepth on this since I'm at home usin my comp and not typin in between classes at school hehe.

Every year my High School has an contest called the pumpkin drop. This event is held by the physics department, and they are supposed to create apparatuses that will protect the pumpkin from a fall from 3 stories.

This year a new teacher came to our chem department. She is more fun than most of the teachers, and decided to try to convince the physics teachers to allow her AP chem class to join in. Obviously building a structure able to withstand a fall from 3 stories isnt a chemistry problem, we my class decided to improvise and create our own rules :evillol: and our teacher went along with it.

We have decided that the only way to make the pumpkin drop into a contest that chemistry would apply to, we would have to blow up the pumpkin.

Ok now onto the rules
-can not contain shrapnel
-must be able to be safely transported
-must have some way of being set off in the middle of the fall
-cant harm the onlookers (theyll be standing about 30ft away)

Other than those rules its pretty much open season. The pumpkin is raise the 3 stories on an accordian riser, not sure what its really called, and then thrown over by the physics teachers.

Hope someone can come up with somethin good hehe.

What's with all these threads from people wanting help with their school work?
Well I could probably come up with something fairly easily on my own, just wanting to see if anyone has any ideas that would far outshine mine. Plus you have to admit it is kinda a cool thing to think about lol.

hollow out enough pumpkin to get a thin walled plastic container about 5 inches by 3 inches. have a dividing wall in the middlewith a small opening across the top. In each part of the container, fill one side full of water. On the other side, a tiny amount (2-3grams) of Pure soduim metal. As the pumpkin falls, make sure it has a slight spin(so the water will slosh into the sodium container), and go BOOM!!!

This will be safe to transport as long as it isn't tilted so the water prematurely hits the sodium.

We did this in my chemistry, except there was a bucket of water, and a handful of sodium...

get the yearbook class to take pictures, duh!

/\ Isn't there an IMMEDIATE reaction with water and pure sodium? I think he wants it to explode midfall, not in the teachers face

Get a couple cases of sparklers, then shave all the powder off. The wrap the powder VERY tightly in a ball of electrical tape, stick in a fuse, and enjoy the show. Just make sure its wrapped very tightly or it wont work.

/\ Isn't there an IMMEDIATE reaction with water and pure sodium? I think he wants it to explode midfall, not in the teachers face
How about a string connected to the middle divider, so when it falls you hold onto the string and measure it out so midway the divider pulls out?

How about a string connected to the middle divider, so when it falls you hold onto the string and measure it out so midway the divider pulls out?
I think that can work, but lemme read up on slightly more violent chemical reactions our little hero can use instead.

An remember, Af is not liable to any damages/loses/deaths you may experience from taking our advice

Cheerio

Hmm what do you all think about pure potassium?

The only problem that I see with using alkaline metals are that they react with the water vapor in the air. Im not certain but it might work if in the section with the metals I put just enough mineral oil to keep them covered. What do you guys think?

/\ Isn't there an IMMEDIATE reaction with water and pure sodium? I think he wants it to explode midfall, not in the teachers face

Right you are Ken...

Which is why i specified to be careful, and as it fell, I was counting on air resistance to put a slight tumble in the pumpkin, allowing it to explode only when the water contacts the sodium, but thats still rather risky.

The divider idea is excellent. Combine that with mine, and you've got a winner!

:useless:
We need pics or video if you manage to pull this off.

Already said I would lol. Gimme some time.

Perhaps he's from the Middle East?
:rolleyes:

How about a string connected to the middle divider, so when it falls you hold onto the string and measure it out so midway the divider pulls out?
:1:

Well I found out that my schools chem department is running low on potassium, so instead we are doing a different reaction.

Instead of the elemental potassium we are going to be combining potassium nitrate and powdered sugar. When combined with sulphuric acid this combo instantly ignites. Hopeing to have a great show.

have you got an idea for a detonator yet?

if we go with the one that uses H2SO4 as its activator, then what well prolly end up doing is making it real simple and just have it in a test tube, throw the pumpkin, and let the acid mix with the rest of the chemicals inside the pumpkin. Still need to test to see how powerful of an explosion it would create, but im hoping that itll make the pumpkin go boom. If not then itll at least still be a really cool light show.

H2SO4 is a very toxic gas that in several areas requires special permits to handle it, I highly dought your teacher will allow you to use it.

I think you mean WD-40. School of Yassir Arafat.

Isnt Hydrogen Sulfite also really unstable?

id rather go Trick or Treating.

get some piccolo pete's, crush and dump out the white powder into a plastic baggy. Gather all the powder from 1-2 piccolo petes in one corner of the baggy. Cut that corner off. Set it inside a 20 oz. pepsi bottle and fold the edges over the rim. Screw on the cap (with a hole in it) and insert the fuse. This goes BOOM, but harmless if more than 10ft away. It works solely on expansion of gases inside the bottle. All YOU have to figure out, is how long of a fuse you need.

H2SO4 is a very toxic gas that in several areas requires special permits to handle it, I highly dought your teacher will allow you to use it.

h2so4 is sulfuric acid. at std atmospheric pressure and temperature, it's a liquid. i don't know about where you're from, but in the UK i used it regularly in school without a permit.

h2so4 is sulfuric acid. at std atmospheric pressure and temperature, it's a liquid. i don't know about where you're from, but in the UK i used it regularly in school without a permit.
In the oil field industry H2SO4 is commonly found when drilling into the ground and it is found as a gas. The stuff used in most schools is very dilute compared to the stuff in the ground. Evan as the acid used in the school evaporated it still produces very minute traces of the gas just not in a high enough concention to cause any health concerns

Evan as the acid used in the school evaporated it still produces very minute traces of the gas just not in a high enough concention to cause any health concerns

i don't know how strong it was, but it would burn holes in clothes if you got any on yourself... :(

i don't know how strong it was, but it would burn holes in clothes if you got any on yourself... :(
The stuff they use in schools is only about 1-5% acid, the stuff I deal with requires full body protection and the use of an air suppied resporatior (SCOT pack) The stuff I use will burn a whole in your lungs just breathing it. The survival rate after exposure is less than 2% if you breath it.

We're not trying to kill the class, you guys, just blow up a pumpkin!

We're not trying to kill the class, you guys, just blow up a pumpkin!

that's what i was thinking. something that potent is not required and indeed would be very dangerous.

How about sparkler bombs? Thats a good way to make the pumpkin sort of explode.

edit: when i read the second page, i read my post again, and now i feel inferior..

We're not trying to kill the class, you guys, just blow up a pumpkin!
Thata why I recommened he not use the H2SO4(g)

Well guys hate to break it to ya but we did use H2SO4(l). In this reaction it reacts completely, and therefore is no health risk. Also we were using very minute amounts in an outdoors enviroment.

Well heres a pic of someone elses. They actually wanted their pumpkin to survive, and it worked.
http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/500/209713Picture_250-med.jpg

But my class wanted to blow ours up, or at least make it look really cool. So heres what it looked like while suspended
http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/500/2097131.jpg

And heres what it looked like after its landing :evillol:
http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/500/209713Picture_258-med.jpg
Was a fun class, and we got to work with some rocket candy.

sweet! nice one! i wish we'd done stuff like that at my school... :(

Ya was lots of fun. After the pumpkin we made about 300mL of the fuel, put it in a heavy duty mortor, about and inch and a half thick, and managed to shatter it :evillol:

most exciting thing i did in chem class was to burn a hole through a desk using thermite... :iceslolan

What exactly was your fuel composed of?