Fun with Chemistry (Go BOOM!)
Want to make a expI05iv for fun or other reason that i won't ask about? I am in no way responsible for how you use this info I am just sharing it for 'educational' purposees.
This is how:
1.) Go to a grocery store or big box store and pick up toilet cleaner containing hydrogen chloride (a.k.a. hydrochloric or muriatic acid). One brand, the Works, contains 20% hydrogen chloride.
2.) Get some aluminum foil and tear it into strips. The thinner the strips, the faster the reaction will occur. I would stick with strips about 1/4 inch or so in width. You don’t need too much aluminum foil; just enough to reach about the 1/5 mark on a bottle.
3.) Get a plastic bottle with a screw top. (Do not used a metal or glass container! unless your trying to actually kill someone which is very bad! don't do it, unless they really deserve it, like someone who hurts little kids.)
4.) Put the strips of aluminum foil in the bottle.
5.) Go outside, far from houses and people! Place the bottle on a stone or something other than grass. The leftover acid will kill grass.
6.) Squirt some of the toilet bowl cleaner into the bottle. Just enough to coat the foil and leave a generous pool of cleaner on the bottom of the bottle will do.
7.) Quickly screw the cap on and run! It will take a few seconds to a few minutes until the bottle fills with gas, expands, and eventually explodes.
8.) Wash down the area with water after the bottle has exploded. Don’t touch the aluminum if there is any surrounding the bottle. It will burn you.
The chemistry explanation: The aluminum foil in your kitchen is coated with a type of wax. This is to prevent you from being burned by the aluminum since it is a strong skin irritant. The Works toilet bowl cleaner (and some others) contains hydrochloric acid. The acid strips the coating away, exposing the aluminum. Hydrochloric acid reacts rapidly with aluminum to produce Aluminum Chloride (soluble) and Hydrogen gas.
Here’s the reaction:3HCl(aq) + Al(s) –> AlCl3(aq) + 3H(g)
This rapid production of gas pressurizes the bottle until it bursts, creating a very loud bang. The stronger the bottle, the louder the bang.
