Dutch kids having fun.
Carbide is a rocky material, called CaC2 in the language of people like my girlfriend. It's made of coke and slacked lime, by heating the two in an electric oven. It used to be used in eg. carbide lamps or to make acetylene gas which can be used for welding.Further details and disclaimers at Carbidbus.
Right, the whole idea is contained in this: CaC2(s) + 2H20(1)---- HCCH(9) + Ca(OH)2(s), which basically means, that if you put water with the carbide it produces (amongst something else which I haven't got a slightest idea what it might be (ask my girlfriend, she should know)) acetylene gas; an explosive gas!
Now you take a milkcan (with a nicely fitting lid) and drill a tiny hole in the back of the milkcan. Now all you need is something like a torch, or alternatively attach in some way (consult someone about this with who does knows what he is doing...) a nut (and they say Dutch words are silly...) over the hole on the back and get some firecrackers which fit the nut and get lighter. Oh, and fill a empty bottle or something with water. That's all really, so here we go...
When I was a boy I worked at a mom-and-pop commercial flower garden. The boss used carbide to asphyxiate moles. He'd toss some crystals into a tunnel, pour in water, and cover it up.
ReplyDeleteWe kids soon figured we could make "carbide bombs" the same way. We put crystals and water into a jar, quickly screwed it shut, and threw it into the river. It gave an exciting depth-charge-like effect, but it's a wonder we were never hit by glass shrapnel.
My brother had a carbide cannon when we were kids. The cannon itself was about 15 inches long, a metal pipe just wide enough for an orange juice can to fit over the end. Put in some powder, a little water, fit the juice can over the end, and apply a light to the tiny hole in the base. Loud BOOM and the juice can flew.
ReplyDeleteA more aerodynamic projectile would probably have gone a lot farther, but fortunately for the neighbors, we didn't have one. :-)
Carbide -a word I've been trying to think of for weeks now. Just seeing it brings back a distinct memory of that smell. My dad was a geologist, and we used carbide miner's head lamps for cave exploring, and a carbide lantern for camping.
ReplyDeleteIf they had proper barrel to combustion chamber volume ratios those projectiles would fly much further!
ReplyDeleteits not about shooting the lids away, it's about the "BOOOM". it can be heard for miles!
ReplyDelete