Wax Explosions

A little Background

Recently, I visited the Sierra Nevadas with my parents, and my brother Elliott. Over the last several years, we have taken trips up there, to enjoy the peace and quiet (most of the time), swim, hike, and make campfires.

That was over five years ago, when I was much younger, barely past the double digits. One thing lead to the next, and soon my brother and I were mixing the sap from the local trees, and heating it over the campfire. I would roll pieces of paper towel in the heated wax, let it cool a little, and roll them into "crackling cigars." Although the cigars had nothing to do with their real conterparts, they certainly produced a lot of smoke and flames when burned.

With time, either my brother or I made the discovery that cold water, when poured into heated sap, reacts violently, producing a very pleasing effect. At first we created maybe 2 or three foot high fireballs, at max. Now, fastforwarding to the recent past, we advanced from using sap from tres, and started using candle wax. My mom has countless wonderful beaswax candles. Well, as candles, they suck. We soon usurped them for our own devious deeds. A large chunk of one of these will produce a spectacular fireball. Not quite like gasoline, but you'd be suprised.

Make your Own

Materials:

A large quantity of some kind of wax. Beaswax, or other candle wax will do.
Some assorted aluminum cans. I used the a 2" diameter can, and a 1" diameter can.
Flexible, yet strong wire.
Knife, pliers, a method to punch holes in cans, hack saw

Materials

The Boiler:

To make an explosion, you will need to heat the wax to its boiling point over a hot fire. Simply puncutre appropriate holes in an aluminum can, and attach a wire handle to it. The handle should be sturdy enough, that you can hold about a cup of water in it without spilling it. The handles should be about a foot or possibly longer, depending on you comfort around fire. This container will hold the candle wax.

The Ladle:

To trigger the fireball, you will need to pour about a half cup of water onto the boiling wax, from a ladle of some kind. Construct this in any way you see fit. Make sure the handle is at least a foot long. Again, adjust it to your comfort level. A preffer to just hold the can with some tongs.

Make something Explode:

So you've toiled through the process of making all these ladle and things. Now what? Well, all you need to do is build up a hot fire, one way or another. I but you could use a portable stove, a barbeque, or any othe source of significant heat. WARNING: if you use a little stove, it will probably be coated in wax, and other disasters could occur. Propane + Fire = BAD. Now, when your fire's going nicely, put a large hunk of wax into the boiler, and place in a part of the fire without too many flames. You don't want the wax igniting to early (don't worry, it most likely won't explode, but will waste wax). Now, quickly get some water, if you haven't so far. Wait until the wax is flaming profusely. At this point you can test the heat by flicking a bit of water in the wax. It should crackle menacingly. Now, if its hot enough, and carefully pour the water on the boiling wax. An explosion will result.