the works bomb
The Works Bomb
One of the coolest things about chemistry has to be blowing things up. It gives you the satisfaction of knowing your experiment worked (or sometimes failed), plus it’s just a lot of fun to watch something blow up. One of the most popular experiments seems to be the Works bomb. It’s not a “bomb” in the sense that it explodes into flames and leaves a big hole in the ground, but it makes an extremely loud bang and steams a little bit. It’s a pressure bomb. The gas created from the reaction of hydrochloric acid and aluminum fills a plastic bottle until it ruptures. Warning! The Works bomb is illegal to make! Don’t do it! The information below is purely for educational purposes (such as research papers) and may leave leaves out crucial steps
Here’s how someone would make the Works bomb if it were legal: 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.) You don’t need too much just enough to reach about the 1/5 mark on a bottle
3.) Get a plastic bottle with a screw top. Do not use a metal or glass container! 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 fill the bottom part of bottle
7.) Quickly 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 remaining substance 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
One of the coolest things about chemistry has to be blowing things up. It gives you the satisfaction of knowing your experiment worked (or sometimes failed), plus it’s just a lot of fun to watch something blow up. One of the most popular experiments seems to be the Works bomb. It’s not a “bomb” in the sense that it explodes into flames and leaves a big hole in the ground, but it makes an extremely loud bang and steams a little bit. It’s a pressure bomb. The gas created from the reaction of hydrochloric acid and aluminum fills a plastic bottle until it ruptures. Warning! The Works bomb is illegal to make! Don’t do it! The information below is purely for educational purposes (such as research papers) and may leave leaves out crucial steps
Here’s how someone would make the Works bomb if it were legal: 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.) You don’t need too much just enough to reach about the 1/5 mark on a bottle
3.) Get a plastic bottle with a screw top. Do not use a metal or glass container! 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 fill the bottom part of bottle
7.) Quickly 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 remaining substance 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