Even more fun – when we were about 12, we used to take the 16 oz. glass Pepsi bottles and put sulfuric acid out of batteries in them, then dump in some aluminum foil. We would put a balloon over the top of the bottle and the balloon would fill with hydrogen gas. We made our own fuses with potassium nitrate and string, and once the balloon was full, we would tie it off and tie the fuse just above the knot, in close contact with the skin of the inflated balloon. The fuse was usually about 10 inches long. We would light the fuse and let the balloon go. Somewhere around 100 feet up, the fuse would contact the balloon and it would ignite the hydrogen. Since hydrogen burns a pale, light blue, it was not really visible during the day, but was pretty cool at night.
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Looking back, that was probably not one of the smartest things we did. Almost as smart as us drilling a small hole in a ping pong ball and filling the ping pong ball with black powder, pushing one our homemade fuses into it, burying it in the dirt, then lighting it. That one was better in the daytime, but looking back, again, not smart.
Even more fun – when we were about 12, we used to take the 16 oz. glass Pepsi bottles and put sulfuric acid out of batteries in them, then dump in some aluminum foil. We would put a balloon over the top of the bottle and the balloon would fill with hydrogen gas. We made our own fuses with potassium nitrate and string, and once the balloon was full, we would tie it off and tie the fuse just above the knot, in close contact with the skin of the inflated balloon. The fuse was usually about 10 inches long. We would light the fuse and let the balloon go. Somewhere around 100 feet up, the fuse would contact the balloon and it would ignite the hydrogen. Since hydrogen burns a pale, light blue, it was not really visible during the day, but was pretty cool at night.
.
Looking back, that was probably not one of the smartest things we did. Almost as smart as us drilling a small hole in a ping pong ball and filling the ping pong ball with black powder, pushing one our homemade fuses into it, burying it in the dirt, then lighting it. That one was better in the daytime, but looking back, again, not smart.