Experiment #1: Propane Balloons
This little adventure wasn't what we might call a resounding success, but it was entertaining in its own way.
The Situation
Being college freshman without cars, my roommate and I often found ourselves
stuck at the dorms in the evenings on weekends. Having slaved away over books and
having pumped out homework all week, we were (quite understandably) irritated that
we were forced to spend our free time stranded on campus. Where was our
entertainment? Television reception was close to squat on our side of the dorm (the
school had claimed, when WE entered the dorms in 1995, that cable TV would be
available in all of the dorm rooms. When they finally did put in cable in late
1997, we had already ran away screaming from the college's on-campus housing to
a cozy apartment.) Those that are denied entertainment are forced to create
their own...
The Equipment Involved
A propane torch (one of those simple $15 jobs that you buy at K-Mart), a package
of balloons, a fishing rod (briefly "borrowed" from one of my roommates), and
a healthy does of misguided imagination.
The Plan of Action
By placing a balloon on the end of the propane torch's nozzle, we simply turn
on the gas flow and viola, balloons filled with propane. It was our guess
that a propane-filled balloon would make a pretty spectacular show if we somehow
managed to get it into an open flame and get away fast enough to appreciate the
show without getting sizzled. After pondering the best way to accomplish this
feat, we devised our plan of action:
Attach the balloon to the fishing pole
Dangle the balloon-on-a-line down to the ground from the second floor of the dorm
Swing the balloon around until it hit a small fire conviently started on the
ground just outside the dorm for the experiment
Enjoy the resulting show, then run like hell before we got caught
What Actually Happened
This is where that "not quite a resounding success" bit comes in. We made
the mistake of simply placing the actual propane torch on the ground, instead of
making a small, open fire. After lowering the balloon from the second floor
balcony of the dorm down to the propane torch, I waved the fishing rod around
until the balloon swung into the torch's flame. A quick POP noise was followed
by the propane torch's flame being blown out by the sudden WHOOSH of
propane escaping from the balloon.
Not to be discouraged by this, we pulled out our second balloon (which, by
the way, was MUCH bigger than the first.) At this point, I was grabbed by an ROTC
cadet and hauled off to do some inane ROTC thing (I think it was making a banner
out of a bed sheet...). This left my roommate alone holding a fishing pole and a
balloon filled with propane. This all occured about ten seconds before 3 RAs
(resident advisors... commonly known to us as the "Fun Police"...) showed up on
the scene.
I happened to miss the resulting show between my roommate and the RAs, but it
was all captured for posterity on video tape by another student who happened to
have a video camera on hand.
Lessons Learned
Lookout for any wandering authority figures - ten seconds of warning is
usually enough to escape if you plan ahead
Always have a backup propane torch for those occasions when your main torch
gets confiscated by RAs
Serious experimenters would have actually started a real fire out there on
the ground
It is probably better not to draw the attention of the whole dorm to your
little pyrotechnical escapades
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