M_a_r_c wrote:

> He told us to step back away then lit a ribbon of magnesium close to  the 
> tube. The mix exploded projecting a thousand drops of mercury all across the 
> lab.
> It looks like he forgot deepening the open end of the tube in the bath.

Yes, but he DID demonstrate the instability of an H2/O2 mixture...

There was a similar demo on the David Letterman show.  The fellow had 
two balloons, one filled with hydrogen and one filled with a 
hydrogen/oxygen mix.  He touched a blowtorch to each balloon.  The 
hydrogen-filled balloon made a brief, silent fireball.  The other 
balloon made a brief and very noisy fireball.

Regards,
John

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