Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!mmm
From: mmm@cup.portal.com (Mark Robert Thorson)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: 9-volt / rocket launcher?
Message-ID: <12974@cup.portal.com>
Date: 27 Dec 88 05:41:18 GMT
References: <2557@ddsw1.MCS.COM> <2862@kitty.UUCP>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 22

I used to break apart vacuum tubes for their filament material.  A piece
about 1/4 inch long driven by six volts of D cells would set off a mixture
of oxygen and hydrogen quite nicely.

(I'm talking about 1/4" of filament wire after you've broken the ceramic
coating and stretched it out.)

For reliable electric fuses, nothing beats photographic flashbulbs.  Be sure
to remove the "protective" plastic coating for best results.

Many gun shops sell black powder (gunpowder for people who roll their own
ammo).  Even with the plastic coating on, a flash bulb sets this stuff off
pretty well.

Always remember the safety rule for gunpowder:  If it doesn't have a casing,
it doesn't go BOOM !!!

Come to think of it, that's not the safety rule.  I think the safety rule was:
Don't mix carpet tacks with the powder, put them around the sides.

No, no, that wasn't it either.  It was something like:  Keep a shorting bar
across the fuse until the last moment before you run away.