On Sun, 19 Jul 2009 11:47:32 +0100, Tim S wrote:

ARWadsworth wibbled:

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

Adam

Wiring a random transformer from the back of a valve TV to the mains. I knew
what it would do, but not which way! Measured 8V with my cheap and crappy
Radio Shack meter. I was lucky.

Tried my new 2A/10000-turn electromagnet on the colour TV to see how it bent
electron beams. Discovered the joy of inbuilt degaussing coils, about 50
times before my parents came back. Nearly Darwined by that one!

Lots of fund with pot.mang, pot.nitrate, and any reducer to hand. Tried
making gunpowder, and drying it in the gas oven...

Electrolysing water + salt direct from mains. That goes pop-ety-pop, a
lot...

Seems a lot of us were intrigued by explosives and electricity....

I did some incredibly stupid things with ground up Swan Vesta heads (
which in itself was pretty daft - but safety matches didn't have
enough 'ooomph' ) and bits of copper pipe.

We used to make our own bangers by getting a couple of large bolts and
a nut and screwing them together with a match head inbetween. Tied to
a loop of string and hurled against a wall they'd make a pretty decent
bang.

I moved onto butane - and found that by squirting a generous amount
down the plughole of one of a long line of sinks in the school's
chemistry lab and then igniting it, I could get a satisfying 'whoomph'
out of almost every sink along the line.

.....and then there was the WD40 flame gun...

Regards,


--
Steve ( out in the sticks )
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