Scorched

Sex up science (M&G)

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 | Mail & Guardian column | No Comments

fffzzzzzzz…zzzz…zzz… THUP!

A projectile the size of a child’s fist shot across the lawn and buried itself in a crouching rhododendron bush. It was summer in the early 1980s and we kids were home from school. My brother, his head crammed with potions learned in the science class, had cobbled together a handful of innocuous kitchen ingredients and turned them into something entirely more volatile.

The receptacle for this weapon of minimal destruction was our mum’s lovely ceramic vinegar jar, the projectile was its cork stopper. › Continue reading

Tags: popular science, science