Theo wrote:
"Davo" wrote in message
...
Theo wrote:
For rosin read resin.
Or as multicore called it - "Ersin"


As a youth I used Bakers Soldering Flux and Aluminium foil to make
Hydrogen for our lighter than air balloons. Bakers Soldering Flux was 32%
Hydrochloric Acid.

Caustic Soda and Aluminium works much better for producing hydrogen, but you
have to watch the temperature as the mixture gets mighty hot and tends to
produce steam too.

In the days of coal gas, I used to inflate balloons using our gas tap under
the sink. I once let one go with a card attached and I got a reply from over
100 miles away!

The gas we get now jest aint light enough!





We made our hydrogen in coke bottles, and sometimes the reaction got so
hot the bottle shattered. One day we thought it would be a great idea to
put a fuse on the balloon and light it so that when the balloon got up
in the sky a bit it explode. The fuse was made from paper that had been
saturated in a potassium nitrate solution, (tell the chemist you mum
needs it to make sausages). The paper was dried and it becomes our fuse
paper.
However, as one of us held the balloon and the other lit the fuse the
flame from the match went on the balloon and it blew up in our faces
leaving us with the smell of singed eyebrows.
We eventually got it to work.

P.S Don't try this at home kids.