Think of the children!

Or perhaps in a commitee, wanting to make there mark to show they can achieve something. Never mind reality, dont bother with facts and figures, it must be right.

Cheers, Simon

Starting at age five. Jumping on and off trams. Without paying - naturally.

LOL. I did too. And worse. Eg, hung onto the back of the bus while riding a bike. We made gunpowder too, tried for a satisfying bang, but all we got was a whoosh. Bummer.

As for the dumb stuff we did when we got our driver's licenses, the less said about that, the better.

wolf k.

In article , Wolf K writes

Wolf,

Gunpowder is a subsonic (low) explosive; the propagation front travels at subsonic velocity, and it will only go off with a bang if it is confined, so the pressure and temperature build up until the container ruptures.

Most explosives used as such now are supersonic explosives - the propagation front is a supersonic shock wave, which means they will go bang when ignited under any conditions, even when totally unconfined. See discussion of "Low Explosives and High Explosives", some way down this page:

I used to make gunpowder also, mostly being happy with the slow deflagration but experimenting with different colours from additives.

Please don't try this at home! This was in the 60s, you'd probably get arrested by the paranoia platoon nowadays.

David

Well, they only moved at 10 or 15 mph.

We would light penny bangers while holding them (contrary to the "Danger - do not hold in hand" instructions) then throw them into the water to create depth charges. I don't know what it did to the fish.

[...]

Yes, I know that _now_. ;-) Back then we didn't know of these subtleties, but we did know how to get the neck off a 200W light bulb, did three of them. We filled it with our concoction, and buried it in the lawn. We lit a home-made fuse, and retreated behind some bushes. No bang, no clods of earth flying into the air, just a whoosh and a muddy orangy flame about 1 meter high, and lots of smoke (which explained the English name "black powder" when I came across it some years later.) We tried stuffing wet clay into the necks of the remaining two bulbs. Still no joy. By that time our house master was on our trail, gave us a good talking to, told us to patch up the lawn, and advised us on less dangerous experiments. Remarkably tolerant lot the masters were.

Nostalgia, eh?

Wolf K.

A milk churn drilled and fitted with a spark plug ,then rolled around with an egg cup or so of petrol made a satisfying Whoomph. The hammered on lid disappeared into the blue yonder and was probably reported as a UFO. Detonation was achieved by a link to a tractor magneto from behind the hay shed. Depth charges were made by stuffing the old weed killer and sugar mix into used soda syphon sparklets bulbs. Initially these were torpedos but one must have got metal fatigue so we discovered the depth charge effect. So did the Ducks on the Pond who took off never to return. The lady owner was puzzled till about 35 years later we confessed. Took about the same time for the scar on my Knee from a piece of shrapnel to fade away.

G.Harman

We used test tubes, not saying if there was anything else in them. Then there was sodium chlorate and sugar. Tried rockets out of metal cigar tubes, Made a nice flare, although one lad burnt the curtains in his bedroom.

Cheers, Simon

Gee, I just flashed on rolls of caps. Perhaps where the term "pop a cap" comes from? Just never thought about it afore now.

I was still at it in high school. Set off a termite bomb in the hood in chemistry class. Teacher didn't think I was capable of doing it and just did a "well why don't you demonstrate". Much to her surprise, it worked. Cleared the building.

I'd like to see one of those.

-- Richard

I lived in a tenement and we engaged in a game called "dreeping". This involved hanging by one's fingers from the windows on the back landings and dropping to the slate pavement below. Then some fool Jumped from the highest landing with an open umbrella and broke a leg. There was no end of entertainment as a result of that.

ROTFL

wolf k.

A banger in a biscuit tin was good.

A banger stuffed in a block of polystyrene lit and put on the pnd so the banger was under water was also fun.

This was late 70s. Bangers were banned not long after that.

MBQ

Perchance that is why "A penny for the guy" has been superseded by "Trick or Treat"?

No you don't it's just p-ANTS

:-)

Perhaps a thermite bomb might be more effective and wouldn't need the trip to tropical or sub-tropical regions to collect the Isoptera.

Alan

It'll be the Safety Elves and killjoy council people. In Durham, the council and fire brigade have been asking people to report 'illegal woodpiles' so that they can be removed before being set alight and "anyone suspected of building an illegal bonfire on public land could receive an £80 fixed penalty fine for flytipping."

If you do want to go to a bonfire without worrying about the Anti Terror Police beating you up, you can pay £3 to go to the official council one.

That'll be all them little termites running around :-)