I found some old photos in my hard drive from my first year at CHIME. This was the 2005-2006 school year....and these particular photos were from a science experiment gone wrong. Lesson learned--always, and I mean ALWAYS try these things in advance before trying them in the classroom--even though I had seen this done, I had never tried it myself. Once it worked though, it was indeed an "oooo ahhhh" experiment.
This is called the great cornstarch explosion. Cornstarch, by nature, will not ignite (when it is laying in a big pile). But, when you disperse it into the air (like, say, through a big tube) while holding a propane torch, it makes a big fireball. This time around, however, I didn't realize just HOW hard it was to blow the cornstarch out of the tube. Instead, I sucked it IN (hence all the white mess everywhere). Well, I choked, and I don't mean a little bit. I mean a lot! And while the kids all thought it was pretty funny, my eyes were watering, and I sputtered for a few minutes while trying to catch my breath.
Perhaps my favorite part was watching Sam (my helper in the pics). Look at his little face. :)
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