diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'src/md/29_The_Match-Head_Bomb.md')
| -rw-r--r-- | src/md/29_The_Match-Head_Bomb.md | 36 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 36 deletions
diff --git a/src/md/29_The_Match-Head_Bomb.md b/src/md/29_The_Match-Head_Bomb.md deleted file mode 100644 index 4e5e752..0000000 --- a/src/md/29_The_Match-Head_Bomb.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,36 +0,0 @@ ---- -title: The Match-Head Bomb ---- - -On another occasion when we lived in the flat-roofed house, Tom and I -were home alone and itching for some mischief. We set up a card table in -the living room to serve as our chemistry lab. I cut the heads off of a -bunch of common matches and put them into a small glass Christmas -ornament. It was the kind that you hang on the tree with a little wire -hook. We simply removed the little wire loop and the thingy that covered -the hole in the glass globe so we could fill the inside of the ball with -the match heads. I didn\'t have any real goal with this dangerous stunt, -so I started doing some crazy stupid experimenting with this little -bomb. We had a candle mounted on a small plate that was on the card -table. I lit the candle and held the phosphorous filled ball with my -bare hand. I can\'t imagine what ever came over me to do such a crazy -thing, but I then proceeded to hold the Christmas ball over the flame to -see what would happen.\ -\ -Well, you can guess what happened next. Pow! The glass ball exploded -with a nice poof noise. Fortunately, the glass of the ornament was so -thin that it didn\'t create a very strong containment for the energetic -combustion reaction that started inside it. Thus, the explosion was more -of a poof than a big nasty bang you would expect from a well-built bomb. -Unfortunately, the consequence of this poof caused burning bits of match -heads and broken glass to be propelled all over the living room. My -mother\'s living room curtains took the worst of the explosion because -many of the burning match heads landed in the lacy folds of the curtains -and ended up as a bunch of ugly black-ringed holes.\ -\ -To this day, I don\'t understand how I avoided a month of being grounded -over this episode. Obviously, my mother was not pleased that I ruined -her living room curtains, but perhaps she and dad were just glad the -whole house didn\'t catch fire. I must have at least learned a lesson -because there were no more near disasters with explosives in my -remaining early years. |