Very fond of thermite and the screaming Gummi bear demonstrations….

I think most people wear this badge secretly for fear of federal watch lists (and scaring friends and family), but you all know you enjoy a little flash and boom. Who doesn’t?

It all started with Alex: “Let’s light the whole pack of Jumping Jacks, instead of separating them like it says in the directions.” And the rest was history….

For some reason, despite my contention that I was fully aware of the requisite safety precautions and had good knowledge of what I was doing, my parents still objected to my desire to manufacture fireworks in the basement of our house when I was in high school. Maybe it had something to do with that tree I accidentally started on fire…in retrospect, it was probably a wise decision on their part. They didn’t stop me from building the remote-control electronic fireworks ignition system, though! 4 simultaneous shell launches with an accompanying ground display!

Level two, can cause said reactions given 15 minutes, and a standard kitchen pantry.

Hmmm, too many to remember. I had a pot of epoxy go off on a hot day and start to burn my hand before I dropped it. It was a shame: probably $5 of epoxy up in smoke, but it was pretty cool.

More interesting was learning how to plate silver to make high surface area screens to decompose peroxide, but make the nodules strong enough that they wouldn’t break off.

Lol level II: have used highly exothermic reactions in demonstrations for elementary school students you are teaching, or at a birthday party (fireworks don’t count)

My favorite part of my Dad’s (the chemical engineer) library were the books on pyrotechnics.

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