On Sat, 18 Jul 2009 23:39:08 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
had this to say:

Graham. wrote:
"ARWadsworth" wrote in message
om...
Sod Teddy Bears. This article reminded me of my first childhood DIY
experiments

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8154757.stm


I had several DIY childhood experiences and the bigger the good hiding
from my parents the more damage I must have caused.

The most memorable experiment was when my brother and I found our Dad's
hammer on the landing and we smashed the bathroom sink into bits to see
how long it would take to smash the sink into bits.

So what DIY experiments did you perform as a child? I know that one
regular poster deliberately electrocuted his sister.

Adam

I brought a 4ft diameter met balloon into collage once and we decided
to fill it with gas from the Bunsen burner supply* in one of the labs.
We released it from a top floor window aided and abetted by
our lecturer. I suggested that we should attach a card with a message
on it from us, but he didn't think that was a good idea.

*proper coal gas, not the modern heavier than air substitute we get now.

Ah WE used a camping mattress pump to fill ours from the gas poker,
taped a fuse to it, and generated UFO sightings over west London.

Then there was the 'ball bearing cannon' featuring 1/4" pipe, two
bangers (dismantled) and a 1/4" ball bearing. Sited carefully on a cast
(steel? iron? Mezac?) plate on a tennis court in a field..it made a
satisfying bang. We walked over and found a quarter inch hole punched
through the 1/4" cast plate..

I once devised (?) a rocket-propelled toy lorry. I had this quite
well-made lorry from which I removed the body, leaving just the
rolling chassis and the cab. The propulsion 'device' was a piece of
steel tube about 8" long and perhaps 1½" diameter (from a vacuum
cleaner hose attachment), nipped and rivetted shut at one end;
likewise at the back end apart from a gap just big enough for the
'fizzer' of a firework 'banger'. I (partially) filled this with my
special reasonably-fast-burning secret mixture, and bolted this to the
chassis of said lorry (actually I probably used saddle clamps, but
can't really remember) and attached a suitable detonator.
Against the end of the shed I stood an enamelled iron sheet for the
blast to act against, and lit the 'fuse'.
The vehicle shot forward about 6 feet and exploded, one wheel flying
off and going straight through a smallish pane of a bay window. The
rest of the lorry was OKish (apart from the ripped-open steel tube).
The little old lady living next door (Mrs (Miss?) Barraclough)
sheepishly called round to see if I was all right. She'd just been
putting a cake into the oven when she heard this enormous blast. My
folks were quite immune to my 'experiments'.
It was also the first time that I replaced a pane of glass - at around
12 or 13 years of age.

The problem, after I'd carried out a 'post-mortem' was, I think, that
the mixture contained quite a quantity of sugar; this melted and
gunged-up the jet orifice, forming an effective bomb.

I really think it's sad that kids nowadays are deprived of the
experience of technical/scientific 'research'. Little wonder that as a
nation we're rapidly falling from being world leaders to 'also-rans'.

After all, I'm still alive (just!).

--
Frank Erskine