boojum
Mentor
The unfortunate reality is that explosives and poisons are easy to make and if you do not know how the information is available on the internet. But danger has always been present. So what is needed is a greater sense of responsibility. Can it be 100%? No, but we can reduce the incidence by teaching responsibility. I always have hope.
Coldkennels
Barnack-toting Brit.
Polystyrene and petrol will make a passable napalm... I think it was my old chemistry teacher who taught me that. He also told my class basic methods to make plastic explosives and pipe bombs. Frankly, I have no idea how he stayed in that job.
Getting a bit off track, but this is one of the biggest issues with the modern idea of "airport security" - so many every day items can be used to cause mischief or harm. You can't stop someone who's determined to cause trouble. Hell, someone once pointed out to me that while we're restricting liquids to 100ml, 100ml of sarin would still be enough to cause some real problems on a plane (and it's not like terrorists haven't used home-made sarin before), and there's more than enough energy in a fully-charged laptop battery to put a hole in the side of a plane if it was explosively shorted out, but we'd never try to tell businessmen they can't fly with their laptops.
Meanwhile, people are so stressed out about the whole arrangement that people are getting removed from planes for playing with a Hasselblad. The world's gone mad.
rfaspen
[insert pithy phrase here]
The poor guy was playing with his "new" Rolleiflex. ☹️. I was just on a flight and thinking about that guy....I left my M2 in the bag and resisted the temptation to get photos of scenery below.
I sure do also remember volatile iodide......"pops" another memory of my mom coming home from a shopping trip.... apparently some time after I had whipped up a batch of ""stuff". I must have dropped a few drops on the floor in my haste (um, yeah I mixed it up at the kitchen sink 😮). All I can really remember is hearing my mom come in the front door, walk into the kitchen to put groceries away, and pop, pop, pop! Then I heard my mom call my name in that special way that lets you know..... trouble. Must have been about 12 or 13 years old. So long ago and so many "dangerous" things we used to do. I told my son, when he was in high school, that I would have been suspended, arrested, or expelled if attending his school today. We were never malicious or anything, just kids. I never did get a chance to teach my son how to make his own fireworks. Maybe during his next visit? Thanks guys!
I sure do also remember volatile iodide......"pops" another memory of my mom coming home from a shopping trip.... apparently some time after I had whipped up a batch of ""stuff". I must have dropped a few drops on the floor in my haste (um, yeah I mixed it up at the kitchen sink 😮). All I can really remember is hearing my mom come in the front door, walk into the kitchen to put groceries away, and pop, pop, pop! Then I heard my mom call my name in that special way that lets you know..... trouble. Must have been about 12 or 13 years old. So long ago and so many "dangerous" things we used to do. I told my son, when he was in high school, that I would have been suspended, arrested, or expelled if attending his school today. We were never malicious or anything, just kids. I never did get a chance to teach my son how to make his own fireworks. Maybe during his next visit? Thanks guys!
CMur12
Well-known
My friends and I made explosives with calcium carbide, which any kid could buy in a hardware store. We also charged electrolytic capacitors from old radio chassis on a Model T Ford coil and a lantern battery.
I remember other kids making iodine crystals that exploded on impact. One kid made some of these crystals, packed them carefully in cotton, and stashed them in a flat plastic case that he unwisely stowed in his back pocket. On the school bus, someone shoved him backwards, cracking that case on the steel edge of one of the seats, the crystals responded and burned the kid's butt!
Those were the days!
- Murray
boojum
Mentor
I am always amazed at just how many male children make it to 21. ;o)