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DELETED (Inactive)
22 Posts |
 Posted - Sep 06 2003 : 11:43:36 PM
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My dad told me how when he was in highschool, a guy flushed sodium down a toilet causing it to be blown off the wall. There were toilet fragments all over the washroom. 
Another time I was making hydrogen using the electrolysis of water. The container was nearly full of hydrogen, with part of the electrodes out of the water exposed. I was holding it down so it wouldnt roll over and leak. I guess i had the electrodes too close because it shorted, causing a spark which ignited the hydrogen. I was knocked off my feet with my hand bruised and water all over the place. Go to my site for stuff on my hydrogen experiments (still workin on it):
http://www.emmans-arsenal.net/hydrogen.shtml
Edited by - eMMaN on Sep 28 2003 8:56:29 PM
Edited by - eMMaN on Oct 02 2003 6:35:21 PM |
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Nerf Smurf
Mad Scientist
USA
390 Posts |
Posted - Sep 29 2003 : 01:23:55 AM
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quote:
Well, when I was in middle school, I accidently shorted 220V mains with 1A germanium diode in metal case... the germanium was evaporated and cold-welded metal case of the diode exploded.. The explosion was terrible - well, it was just in front of my face - so I was blind for several seconds and could not hear for several minutes.. As for broken multimeters.. everything starting with blowing it forgetting to set it in voltage mode after mesuring current and ending with dropping a good big power transformer on the face of precision instrument..:)
sorry i came in this post late but, You were blind for a few seconds and couldnt hear for a while? Congrats, You made a flash bang.
Edward, A. Williams Jr.
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DELETED (Inactive)
1 Posts |
Posted - Sep 29 2003 : 08:21:12 AM
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Lithium explosion.
We use pretty powerful lithium batteries in our portable communications gear. Once in the while... A short in the equipment causes the lith batteries to heat up, usually this shows because the batteries swell. If no one notices, they'll explode. Lithium burns when exposed to water or water vapor. Pretty blue flames, though.
Nasty stuff, but we need something powerful for our gear. The damn batteries are $54 a pop. Two of them last 12 hours on heavy usage.
RevDisk
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Kale
Nobel Prize Winner
Canada
795 Posts |
Posted - Oct 07 2003 : 3:01:16 PM
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We use pretty powerful lithium batteries in our portable communications gear. Once in the while... A short in the equipment causes the lith batteries to heat up, usually this shows because the batteries swell. If no one notices, they'll explode. Lithium burns when exposed to water or water vapor. Pretty blue flames, though.
Hehe... Yeah, Panasonic won't sell you any of their lithium-ion batteries directly. They will only sell them in a special power pack that includes safety circuits to monitor the temperature, voltage, etc. of the cells to keep them from exploding. Lithium is dangerous, but very light and energy-dense.
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wasssup1990
Nobel Prize Winner
A Land Down Under
2261 Posts |
Posted - Apr 15 2004 : 07:29:00 AM
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I see this topic is very popular, so i will respond. Once in my bedroom i was testing a computer power supply, and found it wasn't working. I opend the case up, forgeting that it was still pluged in. I found that a componet was wrecked and needed replaceing, i pointed a screw driver at the componet to show my friend where it was. BANG. A 240 Volt 16A overload struck the cables, the circuit brakers went off. The spark was the size of a golf ball, and left a hole in my screw driver. My freind started to walk to the door like he was innocent. I couldent see or hear anything for approx 7 seconds.
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cirvin
Nobel Prize Winner
USA
1542 Posts |
Posted - Apr 16 2004 : 08:01:31 AM
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I was using my potato cannon and it kinda blew up. The projectile got stuck into the barrel so when I hit the ignitor, THe projectile didnt move. Luckily, the safety I built into the gun went off and the barrel flew forward like 5 feet and athe chamber blew back another 3.
http://daxter12.topcities.com |
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DELETED (Inactive)
9 Posts |
Posted - Apr 29 2004 : 02:26:55 AM
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My biggest explosion was probably in Science class, not my fault but.
We were doing a "Heat the sand" experiment and the people in the other side of the room got some water on their heat lamp after it had been on for a while. The bulb exploded and there was a huge bang. The girl who was right beside it got some burns and cuts on her neck, but that was about it. Pretty exciting for Cleveland High.
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DELETED (Inactive)
13 Posts |
Posted - May 03 2004 : 8:43:52 PM
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I actually have had 3 mishaps.
One day I decided to pull a six inch strip of lithium foil out of a battery and ignite outside while holding it with a pair of pliers. The lithium caught on fire but it really didn't do anything violent until a large chunk of burning/molten lithium fell and landed on my sidewalk. The lithium exploded as soon as it came in contact with the sidewalk and then it shot burning material all over the place. It left a 1/4in X 1in hole in the cement sidewalk. I think it exploded becaue of the following reaction with the SiO2 in the cement.
Li + SiO2 ---> Li20
I have friends that have carried out the same experiment and they have gotten the same results and severely injured.
I had another explosion one time when I was working with 50% hydrochloric acid solution to produce H2 gas by reacting it with Al.
Okay we all know that when you should never make H2 with an acid that is this strong and well if you do you should always dilute the HCl by adding it drop by drop to a large beaker of cold water with a buirette. Well I neglected to do this. I just secured a volumetric flask to a lab stand and then filled the flask with Al chips and then I added in 500mL of 50% HCl. Well the acid started to boil and react violently and the balloon that was on the neck of the flask filled up with H2 and exploded faster then I coulde even jump away from the flask. The acid violently erupted from the flask and shot acid all over me. I'm glad I had chemical resistant goggles and a face shield on along with neoprene gloves. Needless to say I had to strip down and jump in the shower immedietaly.
Then there was the time when I decided to make concentrated nitric acid by distilling sulfuric acid in a retort with potassium nitrate. I cooled the HNO3/NO2 distillate in a flask that was inside of a water bath. Then I picked up the flask of nitric acid and it slipped out of my neoprene gloves and the acid went all over me and immediataly destroyed my clothes. Keep in mind that this was red fuming nitric acid, the strongest stuff that you can get ahold of.
When I was in 2nd grade I decided to put a AA alkaline battery in my superman lamp and plug it in (in my room) The battery exploded and shot sparks all over .
But don't worry folks I've retired from these crazy experiments now I'm building a high energy storage capacitor bank that can store and release 10,125 joules of electrical energy in a fraction of a second. Well I have to do something to keep me buisy while I'm waiting for the rest of my cyclotron parts to come in the mail RIGHT?
P.S. I'm not kidding about the cyclotron I'm almost finished with it's 7in Rf cavity.
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DELETED (Inactive)
13 Posts |
Posted - May 03 2004 : 8:46:54 PM
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Actually the reaction is as follows
Li +SiO2----> LiO +Si
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DELETED (Inactive)
13 Posts |
Posted - May 03 2004 : 8:48:20 PM
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Make that 4 mishaps.
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DELETED (Inactive)
145 Posts |
Posted - May 09 2004 : 11:07:09 AM
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I've probobly never had big explosions, but it was fun in the science class when we should destilate some water from one glass to another. All the other people alredy had boiling water with bobbles in their glasses, but my gas thingy wasn't that good, so I screw op for the gas. After some time, there was big pressure in my glass, which was covered with a cap. The cap was blown off with the glass pipe for the water, and the other glass with th destilated water, however all that stuff hit the ceiling and it rained with water. Our teacher couldn't explain what happened, I still cant understand that!
Check out my site: http://home24.inet.tele.dk/dtcherniak/Denis/Denis/index.htm |
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ReBorne
Apprentece
United Kingdom
13 Posts |
Posted - May 10 2004 : 7:16:29 PM
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ok, ok, I know this is like REALLY stupid and just proves what they say about trying to fix things that are still plugged in... like, don't.
I work on the top floor of a 3 floor building. The boss was in the room below with an important client. I was shredding old fax paper, which managed to block the shredder....so, in my infinite wisom I try unblocking the shredder with no luck. I then catch my eye on a can of shredder oil spray and decide to try my luck...
One spray later, I'm prodding away and there's a cute little bang, fizzle and miniature fireball. I lose my eyelashes and most of the eyebrow on one side of my face along with a reduction in hair on the same side. Coz I was working over the acual sheddy bin at the time, the shredded papers act perfectly like the kindling they have become and catch hold, while the shredder is smoking profusely..... all directly below the fire alarm sensor........
Thankfully (and in a way that would have been hilarious to watch, no doubt) i gets the bin over to the door and stomp it out..... no more than 30 seconds later my colleague comes in, we get the windows open and a minute after that the boss walks in with the client..... both of them sniffing and looking at my face with now-crispy hair...... he he he
s'funny now.....
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moody
Mad Scientist
USA
326 Posts |
Posted - Jul 24 2004 : 6:05:41 PM
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well when i was helping an electrician in a warehouse he was installing a 360volt breaker box
well when he forgot to hook up one simple wire and turned on the main breaker we saw and heard 360volt of electricity explode a circuit breaker box
nobody was hurt but boy that was really scary
electricity is not somthing to fool around with. it can help you but it can also instantly turn on you
David S |
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Chamkeeper
Mad Scientist
278 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2004 : 12:05:01 AM
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360? Sure it wasnt 460? or 380 (which is European)? 360vac isn't a common industrial voltage, and would be a pain to use in any standard application.
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wasssup1990
Nobel Prize Winner
A Land Down Under
2261 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2004 : 02:27:02 AM
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I was testing how hot a microwave oven diode would get when I was shorting it with a power supply. I hooked the diode up and turned the power supply on, I didn't see that I had the Volt dial up to 30V and the Amp dial to 6A. You can imagine what happend, the sillicon expanded and vaporized and the diode exploded, sending shrapnel everywhere just like a grenade. I was very fortunate.
Tip: Always wear goggles when testing a componets heat threshold.
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Largest explosion
