Age: 11

Occupation: School

From: Leicestershire

Object: Blowing up a balloon

Story: First I put baking powder into a balloon then I poured vinegar in and tied the end. The two reacted to give a gas which expanded and blew the balloon up.

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Age: 52 (50 when I first saw this!)

Occupation: Engineer

From: Leicestershire

Object: Exploding Coke Rocket

Story: Drop a polo mint into a bottle of coke. Put the lid on and it explodes then erupts like a volcano.

The post Ashley’s Story appeared first on For the Love of It.

Boom! Photo credit: DSCF1311s by deradrian (license)

Name: Ben

Test Tube Stand with Test Tubes, Mid-19th Century (Inv. 34639)

Age: 15

From: Newcastle, UK

Occupation: Student

Object: Chemistry Kit

Story: When I was five my grandparents bought me a large chemistry set. Doing the proper experiments was boring, so I just mixed everything together in a flask and pushed a cork into the top. After a minute or so the cork blew off the flask and sprayed the contents all over the ceiling of my bedroom.

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Gauze Top Bunsen Burner, c.1874, (Inv. 45602). Who else used Bunsen Burners similar to this when heating things at school?

Name: Priyam

Age: 12

From: London, UK

Object: Jelly babies

Story: We did screaming jelly babies at school – we added potassium chlorate, a heated substance, to the jelly babies and they turned a lilac colour and screamed and then blew up.

Mmmmm, tasty. Photo credit: jelly babies by Sam Greenhalgh (license)

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