Curious Minds Unite: Exploring Pointless Experiments in Our Lives

[Borek]

Spray flame thrower anyone? No idea about these new propane/butane propelled ones, in the time of CFC you need spray with added ethanol (mint breath refresher comes to mind, or some perfumes). Spray plus gas lighter as ignition.

Then there was the fire mushroom trick. You took dried resin from the tree trunk (conifers!), powdered it and put a little bit of powder in your palm. Then you put a lighted match between fingers and throw the powder up so that it has to go through the flame. Very impressive

 

[BobG]

My first biology experiment:
When I was a kid, my neighbor and I dumped everything we could find and fit into the "trunk" of her Big Wheels (the little plastic box on the back). That included stuff like sand, weeds, bugs, we gave it a good stir, then let it sit for a few days until her mom discovered it. :yuck: Her mom made us clean it, and we had to draw straws to decide who would open the lid to dump it out. Had to hold our noses to even get close to it.

My first biology experiment was with the girl next door, who was about a year older than me and was usually the instigator of any trouble I ever got into.

We dissected a live toad when I was around 8 or 9. She had the bright idea that a little alcohol or ether would place the toad unconscious during the operation. It actually was pretty cool. You could see the heart beating and everything. Unfortunately, the patient woke up in the middle of the operation and hopped off the operating table. Not too bad until its intestines got caught on a twig and began to trail behind him. He was all the way to the sidewalk, his intestines trailing out around 3 feet behind him, with both of us chasing him by time her big brother (around 13 or 14) caught us. He got his BB gun and put the toad out of its misery - eventually. It takes a surprising number of BB's to kill a toad. It's nothing like Old Yeller. I thought he was going to kill both of us next. Holy cow! Getting caught by him was worse than getting caught by our parents. At least you could be fairly confident your own parents wouldn't actually kill you.

 

[thomasxc]

i taped a model rocket engine to a large paper airplane. and almost lost a finger. burnt off half the skin...hurt very badly for weeks.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

I had forgotten all about this one. I used to pool saliva on my tongue and then put a lighted match on it with the flame just above the pool. It freaked out the other kids pretty good.

 

[thomasxc]

i started collection spiders, just for a biology experiment. i found a really nice, and big (like almost four inches across) orb weaver, and drowned it in isopropyl alcohol. i didnt wait long enough. i got tweezers to take it out, i clamped down on a leg, and that spider jumped out of the jar and dang near bit me. and i still collect spiders.lol.