Explosive pumpkin carving in science class

This science teacher illustrated gas-expansion for his students by trapping a flammable gas inside a pumpkin whose Jack O'Lantern face had been cut and not removed, then waited for the pressure to build up until the face exploded out of the pumpkin.

Exploding Pumpkin- Halloween Science Chemistry Demos! (via Neatorama)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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Tagishsimon

Excellent. This teacher needs to be cloned.
- http://www.jeremiahblatz.com/ Jeremiah Blatz
  
  Given his reaction to the fire playing over his wrist, we might need to clone him a few times for backup purposes.
http://twitter.com/Skinner2008 Skinner

Now THAT’s how you carve a pumpkin!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Gideon-Jones/100000909387494 Gideon Jones

Aaand then the school board fired him.
vonbobo

the safety glasses qualifies this as real science.
JohnRomeoAlpha

Next up: roasting a turkey with a fuel-air reaction.
JohnRomeoAlpha

…and the Christmas thermite goose, and the Easter plutonium pig.
bcsizemo

And tomorrow on BB, science teacher gets fired for igniting flammable gas inside pumpkin during experiment.

Still a pretty kick ass demonstration.
http://twitter.com/mikeykolberg Michael Kolberg

Let’s hope this guy doesn’t break bad on us.
Guest

Great Fun! This also works by the campfire using lighter fluid.
- xzzy
  
  Flour is better for a campfire.. easier to convince mom you won’t do anything unsafe with it, and still makes a surprisingly large fireball.
  - Guest
    
    are you familiar with the candle/spoon trick? (or the coffee can / insanity trick?)
    
    http://vimeo.com/6028063
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=749833892 Florian Braun

I don’t think he expected it to be that violent, that arm movement was not voluntary. Makes it even more awesome though.
kullervo

As the proud owner of a potato gun, it looks like he has a ignition sparker shoved in the back of the pumpkin to light the gas building up inside, rather than just allowing the gas build-up to complete the carving. I hadn’t thought to use chemistry to fire my potato gun; usually I just use brake cleaner.
Mister44

Science! Sometimes it explodes.
schr0559

My high school chemistry teacher used to blast holes in the ceiling tiles with a rubber stopper atop a large plastic bottle. Whenever he was about to light the gas, he had the same demented grin as this guy.
Mitchell Glaser

I love this kind of stuff, though I can’t believe in our age of helicopter parents and overprotected kiddies that a school would allow this kind of demonstration any more. If I were one of the students, I would have run straight home and tried to recreate that explosion.
SomeGuyNamedMark

I doubt these kids left with an appreciation for the gas law so much as they left with an idea for how to blow up pumpkins around their neighborhood.

This is like porn for civil suit lawyers.
Bevatron Repairman

Awesome. My favorite classroom science trick was filling up a sink with hydrogen filled dishwashing soap bubbles and dropping a match into the foam.
crummett

Sadly, he was fired the next day for “making science fun.”
- MelSkunk
  
  Like, exploding pumpkins dangerous, or boy scout building attempting to build a nuclear reactor in his back yard dangerous? (actually happened)
Damian Dayton

Here is the educators paradox.

We want kids to think science is cool.
Science is inherently dangerous.
Danger is cool.

Problem solved!

Then we want to make sure no one gets hurt, and it all gets ruined.
Even the most interesting topics, made safe, become the most boring.

KEEP SCIENCE DANGEROUS!
(let’s make T-shirts)
- MelSkunk
  
  Like, exploding pumpkins dangerous, or boy scout building attempting to build a nuclear reactor in his back yard dangerous? (actually happened)
  
  Though I suspect even the later would make science cool, before it got all hot and glowy
Shibi_SF

Am I the only one who has wondered: can you do this with flatulence?? (Not that I would do it of course, but I would enjoy watching (from a safe distance)!)
niktemadur

Last of the Halloweenie posts, yay!

All my favorite radio stations got cheesy last week, all they played was stuff like “Frankenstein” by New York Dolls, “The Ghost In You” by Psychedelic Furs, “Werewolves Of London” and yes, even “Thriller”, on commercial-free public radio!

But now, here comes the saturation-bombing campaign of the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti festivities, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sol_Invictus#Sol_Invictus_and_Christianity
Because there’s a time of year when I absolutely feel like I MUST listen to “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer”, over and over again.
floraldeoderant

Next week, he teaches the class to handle meth’d up strongmen with fulminated mercury.