Hindenburg Recreation Experiment

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I turned a nice aluminum cannon in metalshop, complete with cast support brackets. I drilled its bore and cut some 3/8" round steel stock to about 3/8" long and drilled a

1/16" hole through the bullets. I just fed the fuse of a black cat through the hole in the bullet, put the bullet/firecracker in the muzzle and light. a quick tap would drop the thing down the barrel and give you about 1 second to aim. Not too bad, it would shatter glass bottles, plates, and put nasty dents in street signs. And it looked way cool too.

hehe. Something about birds-of-a-feather comes to mind. I have a far superior project in mind. Makes a Hydrogen explosion seem like a good idea.

Ive been lurking far a bit gathering info on a future 1st plane purchase. Me & the boys at the office wanna pitch in a few bucks each for something we can waste our lunch hour with.

They start talking about mounting a wireless camera to the tail of this un-named future plane and a bank of light aluminum .22 barrels under the wings. The whole idea is to do some 'interactive' duck hunting. After that brainstorming session i had a whole new respect for the darwin awards. It should frighten you that people as dumb as us work at a well respected bridge & highway engineering firm.

the boys at

lunch hour with.

bridge & highway

It doesn't surprise me.

Not to be a wet blanket or anything... Although I appreciate a good explosion, and I have done all kinds of crazy things that would make most people wonder why I am still alive today, I draw my line at radio control bullets. I have experienced radio interference and would not want my rudder to go left all of a sudden while the bullets decide to come flying out. Not only that, but strictly on the grounds of practicality, you would never be able to hit your target from an RC plane, unless the plane was flying directly away from you and the target was in front of you in a direct line of sight. Or if the target was the side of a barn.

Hydrogen filled balloons ignited in air do burn with an orange flame, and make quite a loud bang. Here's a link to a picture of me doing a demonstration, igniting hydrogen filled balloons. This is no slow burn a la Hindenburg. The picture taker has to be quick!

I ignite them with a candle attached to a meter stick, at arm's length, and I am wearing safety glasses.

Let's be careful out there!

Steve

Robbie and Laura Reynolds wrote:

WOW! Looks like a can of WD-40 being lit off.

I was always told that Hydrogen burns clear, is it the Oxygen that is giving it the orange flame?

The balloon I'd say.

Orange flame is indicative of red hot carbon soot. Get that from any hyrdocarbon.

Relax...

Actually, the balloon doesn't usually burn, and very little is even melted. The fuel/air mixture is not optimal, so there is a lot of heated hydrogen and air that probably gives off the orange color. There are also lots of other elements, such as sodium, on the surfaces and as impurities that will emit light when heated. If you had a hydrogen flame with just the right fuel/air mixture, it probably would be nearly colorless. A gas stove flame should be a blue color, indicating the proper mixture. If there is not enough oxygen from the air, there will be heated carbon particles which give off an orange glow, as previously pointed out. In this case, there's no carbon except in the balloon, and possibly from impurities, though.

Incidentally, there is a huge difference in the bang produced if oxygen is introduced into the balloon along with the hydrogen. In my demos, there is only hydrogen in the balloon, and the oxygen comes from the surrounding air. This makes a loud boom, but nothing like if you put the hydrogen/oxygen mixture in the balloon. If you do this, hearing protection is a must! Again, please keep safety in mind!

Steve

The Natural Philos>

Back in the 40's calcium carbide was available from any hardware store as fuel for miners lights (also used by night hunters). I used it to make a canon which worked remarkably well. But I was a complete idiot in those days. Made gunpowder, gun cotton, and other items up to and including dynamite.

Got interested in thermite and welded the gates to Harvard yard shut - students and facility had to use ladders to enter Harvard the next day. Also welded a subway train to its tracks in Park street station in Boston. It's very lucky I was never caught or killed.

Then I got drafted for Korea and where did they send me - Demolition school at Fort Belvoir for 6 months. They taught me how to make explosives out of just about anything.

I would NOT recommend anyone playing around with this stuff as its only luck that I was not maimed or killed.

Ray S.

Gives off lots of poisonous gas, so don't do it indoors unless you want to die!

Hope this helps, B

FINALLY! A voice of reason and sense! Dr.1 Driver "There's a Hun in the sun!"

Huh? No one recommended anything. Just been a series of salutory lessons from those that more by luck than judgement survived teenage experimentation...:-)

I thought that the story about my burned ankle and the fire in my basement had a pretty good lesson.

Besides, you could say that flying untethered airplanes with whirling propellers is irrationally foolish, too. How many have been maimed and killed? You must be some kind of maniac, Dr.1 Driver! You're endangering lives!

He made sure he read every post, too. I hope nobody caught him enjoying it.

Yeah, and it also creates a hell portal, through which a demon will travel and eat your children.

Who recommended anything? You must have had a boring youth.

Gene