Well anybody ever have a bomb go off in their house?

[LuckLarry]

WOW! I learned an interesting lesson today. I have been tumbling some corroded pennies in some aquarium gravel I just bought for the task. After about 24 hours of tumbling I still had green corrosion on some of the coins. Tonight on my way home from work I was talking to a friend who suggested I put vinegar in the barrel to cut the corrosion. I am sure I have read of people doing this on the forum somewhere.

Anyway I poured some vinegar in one of the drums, sealed her up and set it to spinning. I was in the back room changing cloths getting ready to go out MD'ing when BOOM! One of my window gets shattered by flying aquarium gravel and drum parts. I came running out and found a fair amount of carnage in my front room. I may have put too much vinegar in the drum, if that is possible, or maybe the fact that the gravel was epoxy coated set off some chemical reaction.

WOW what a mess. Well, the light was fading for hunting, but I knew my wife would be home soon. And I knew if she saw this blast damage in it's raw state she would really be upset. I knew I had to do the right thing........so I went MDing while their was still light.

Don't be too upset ladies! I cleaned it all up as soon as I got home. By then my wife had stopped looking for my body. I sure hope there is some chemical engineers or students out there, as I would love to know what the Vinegar reacted to. As always, we wish you,

 

[Richard@BackwoodsDetectors]

CH3COH or acetic acid in vinegar usually run around 4-6 %..... Mix it with copper sulfate
(CuSO4) and You could possible wind up with sulfuric acid and oxygen...
Copper sulfate hydrated is sulfuric acid..... I think that the oxygen generated is what caused the explosion.... I may be wrong on this but it's been many, many moons since I worked in a lab..... RichardnTn

 

[Shuffler]

sure glad there weren't any fish in there---fish shrapnel ya know- isn't a pretty sight.

 

[boxtopp]

Try it again!
http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/23/23_4_150.gif

 

[BobG]

The acid, although mild to the touch and taste in vinegar, is strong enough to clean concrete sludge off your car. I saw the results after some workers ran through a truck clean out at a construction site.

They were dumb enough to run through the grey soup, but we were responsible for the cleaning of the cars.

Put that acid with the corrosion on metal and/or copper and yup, you generate a gas.

If you'd like to blow up your tumbler even quicker, with enough force to take out a wall, mix some baking soda with it. After the explosion, expect a visit from the boys from Homeland Security.

 

[Tagamet]

It was more of a POOF than a POP, but it was strong enough to force the tumbler top off. The vinegar addition was an idea I saw on the internet (duh).
Never again.
Tagamet