[BostonCard]

2.  In my senior year, there was a junior in our dorm who had come back from a great summer job.  He was a Chem E major, and he worked for a very large oil company (I won't mention it here.)  But he had access to certain chemicals, and had participated in some shenanigans back on the east coast, and promised us all year that we'd end the year with a bang - literally.  So finally, after finals, he kept his promise.  We walked to the edge of Lake Lag where there was a dropoff to the water. He had, ahem, that summer borrowed these sealed canisters of pure elemental sodium.  He opened them carefully (they were pretty good sized bars), placed them into a bag, and tossed it into the water.  In the dark, we sensed only a splash.  A second went by.  Two seconds.  Three seconds.  What gives?  Then .... KA-BOOM - it was a h.uge explosion accompanied by a h.uge ball of fire.  That solid bar of sodium broke up into smaller pieces - each which exploded in a ball of fire, which subsequently broke into even smaller pieces, leading to more balls of fire ...
We stood there in awe of the sound and fury, but the perpetrator turned to us and commanded succinctly, "Let's go."  He explained later that when they pulled this at a public fountain that prior summer, law enforcement detained them.  So he knew better.
Fond memories to this day.

Chemistry major here... I may (or may not) have absconded with some elemental sodium and potassium which may (or may not) have been thrown into Lake Lag.  Not only does the sodium react with the water to produce sodium hydroxide, but the reaction produces hydrogen gas, which reacts with air on the surface explosively.  My pieces may have been smaller, so they might not have produced as spectacular a fireball.  But still lots of fun... I hear.

BC

[BostonCard]

2.  In my senior year, there was a junior in our dorm who had come back from a great summer job.  He was a Chem E major, and he worked for a very large oil company (I won't mention it here.)  But he had access to certain chemicals, and had participated in some shenanigans back on the east coast, and promised us all year that we'd end the year with a bang - literally.  So finally, after finals, he kept his promise.  We walked to the edge of Lake Lag where there was a dropoff to the water. He had, ahem, that summer borrowed these sealed canisters of pure elemental sodium.  He opened them carefully (they were pretty good sized bars), placed them into a bag, and tossed it into the water.  In the dark, we sensed only a splash.  A second went by.  Two seconds.  Three seconds.  What gives?  Then .... KA-BOOM - it was a h.uge explosion accompanied by a h.uge ball of fire.  That solid bar of sodium broke up into smaller pieces - each which exploded in a ball of fire, which subsequently broke into even smaller pieces, leading to more balls of fire ...
We stood there in awe of the sound and fury, but the perpetrator turned to us and commanded succinctly, "Let's go."  He explained later that when they pulled this at a public fountain that prior summer, law enforcement detained them.  So he knew better.
Fond memories to this day.

Chemistry major here... I may (or may not) have absconded with some elemental sodium and potassium which may (or may not) have been thrown into Lake Lag.  Not only does the sodium react with the water to produce sodium hydroxide, but the reaction produces hydrogen gas, which reacts with air on the surface explosively.  My pieces may have been smaller, so they might not have produced as spectacular a fireball.  But still lots of fun... I hear.

BC