[TheForge] [OT] Pyro-boom (Re: Thanks for the info...)

Sat May 31 01:02:00 2003

Balloons are bad news, the gas in side is pressurized therefore larger
quantities are stored in a smaller area.  Static = very funny when they do
blow up, minus the hair you will loose.  yes attach the balloon to a piece
of aluminum foil and ground it.  He get tons of large cardboard boxes 4' x
4' x 5' tall, every new years we put about 50 balloons inside on one all
taped and grounded, and park it in my driveway, come midnight we proceed to
set it off, via a 15KV generator with a spark gap.  This year it was to
close to my garage.  The resulting shockwave removed 99% of the nails from
the siding exactly 1/2" from the deflection.  Requiring a hammer and some
paint to make look like new again......

The anti stat bags take 9 hours to fill (acet will only off gas so much
before getting cold ant the tank pressure drops off since it is dissolved in
oxygen).  So we have only done about 8 or 10 of them.  They usually result
in 911 being dialed and someone asking which gas station blew up..........

About a year ago one of my shop attendants brought to work some of the can
bags they use at the grocery stores when you return the soda cans for a 5
cents.  They hold 500 cans and are about 6 ' long.  While I was not around
the rest of my genius shop help filled the first bag with helium, then
proceeded to tie it to a second bag full of O/A..   they then tied about a
6' fuse to the assembly and went outside to let it go....  The wind was blow
about 35 MPH gusts that day and the balloon assembly planted itself in the
willow tree about 50 feet from the shop, and 150' feet from my tenants
house.  Kabloey......  the tenants though bin laden had bombed us, three car
windows broke in the parking lot, and the plate glass window in the tenants
house survived...............

To date I my self have not broken any windows, but we have rattled a few
lives!

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Spencer" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, May 30, 2003 8:46 PM
Subject: [TheForge] [OT] Pyro-boom (Re: Thanks for the info...)

> Pyro Boy quoth:
>
> > Imagine a 150' long piece of 5 mil anitstatic plastic bag roll (we
> > make smaller bags from the large roll of tube with a heat sealer) Then
> > imagine some idiot and all his buddies, and 3 full 235 CF sets of
> > oxy/acet tanks, and a mixing valve preset to the perfect
> > mix...........
>
> Um, have you *done* this?  Why didn' I hear?
>
> "Antistatic plastic", eh?
>
> I once touched off a small party balloon full of no particular ratio
> of oxy/acet with a 4' piece of rod heated one end.  Exceeded
> expectations by an order of magnitude.  Rattled distant
> windows. Deafened me for awhile.  Before trying a second one, I got to
> thinking about static electricity.  Hmm....  I have 9.8 fingers,
> decided to keep it that way.
>
> Is there a way to guarantee that a party baloon will remain
> static-free for a predictable period of time?
>
> I've also thought, in my more irritated moments, that a clear trash
> bag, filled with oxy/acet, with a peeled flash bulb inside, hung high
> in the old apple tree by the road and connected to the house with some
> lamp cord would offer a remarkable surprise to the deer jackers who,
> in the dark of an autumn night, check the tree for deer nibbling the
> drops.  And then I thought, "Do I need deaf, blind, frightened, armed
> drunks staggering around in my pasture?"
>
> - Mike
>
> --
> Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada
>
> [email protected]
> http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/
>
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