Comments on: The Self-Carving, Exploding Pumpkin

By: sciencegeekgirl » Science activities for Halloween! (Repost)

sciencegeekgirl » Science activities for Halloween! (Repost) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 09:49:35 +0000

[...] you can find some great things to do with those leftover jack-o-lanterns after Halloween. Here is Steve Spangler’s version of an Exploding Pumpkin that carves itself. Most people just have the pumpkin shoot flame from its [...]

By: Bob Kahn

Bob Kahn — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:25:28 +0000

I have done the exploding pumpkin demo every year for the last 15 years. I use calcium carbide and water as described above.
I put some water in a small coffee tin and pour about a half a teaspoon of cc into the water.

Lately though, the pumpkin does not explode but instead there is a poof and a fire inside and tons of black soot.

Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks so much.

Bob

By: » Science activities for Halloween! » sciencegeekgirl

» Science activities for Halloween! » sciencegeekgirl — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 05:28:49 +0000

By: Marcin@Table Tennis

Marcin@Table Tennis — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 04:51:05 +0000

Is it safe to do it in home ?

By: chris

chris — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 23:05:23 +0000

i have an acetlyn torch for plumbing would this work

By: jonny

jonny — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:15:35 +0000

for this exploding pumpkin experiment to work, you need calcium carbide, the amount of this depends on the size of the pumpkin, but u can roughly use 2grams for a medium sized pumpkin, but its all trial and error so few experiments should be required before the actually thing. the amount of water is just enough to cover the calcium carbide. what i suggest is using tin foil and placeing the calcium carbide in then pouring water into it til it covers the calcium carbide. also you want to put a whole in the back of the pumpkin at the bottom, and for best results plug the hole with some plasterseen, then when ready light the splint(id attach this to something long to prevent injury to ur hand like a meter stick). id wait about 5-10 seconds just so the gas is formed. also when doing this experiment u wanna wear safety goggles… hope this helps. good luck

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 04:58:05 +0000

I am a lab manager for a chemistry class, and the superintendent of my school district and I are looking at performing the exploding pumpkin experiment for a kindergarten class during Halloween. I have looked all over for some sort of detailed instructions. However, I can’t find one that says exactly how much Calcium Carbide to use, how much water to use, or even how long you need to wait for the reaction to take place. Flinn doesn’t have a write up for it, and neither does anyone else as far as I saw. Can someone give me a little help so I don’t have to do this the “trial and error” way? That could get messy…

By: JYB

JYB — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 02:56:00 +0000

You only need a little carbide (tsp?). The main thing is to wait about 20 seconds or so for the gas to build.

I seem to remember a Steve Spangler exploding pumpkin where he just tapped on the pumpkin. I have no idea how that one was done.

By: Allison Chapman, M.S.

Allison Chapman, M.S. — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 20:11:33 +0000

I was planning on doing the H2O2 foaming at the mouth, Jack-O-Lantern with my classes and the Science Club…but then I heard about the exploding pumpkin. I’ve used a calcium carbide lantern before and use to blow a tennis ball about 20ft up in the air w/ a make-shift calcium carbide “cannon”.

Do you have any suggestions for amounts of carbide and water to use for a good effect?

I have a Masters of Science in Physical Chemistry but it was for computer simulations—I wasn’t in a wet lab. I teach at Palmetto Ridge High School in Naples, Fl.

Thank you,

Allison Joy Chapman
Chemistry Instructor
ChapmaAl@collier.k12.fl.us

Palmetto Ridge High School
Chemistry Room 569
1655 Victory Lane
Naples, Fl 34120

239-377-2400 x2495

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 19 Dec 2005 03:40:06 +0000

I didn’t see your post… sorry! The oozing pumpkin uses very strong hydrogen peroxide and would be dangerous outside of a controlled school setting. Dry ice dropped in warm water with a squirt of dish soap produces an interesting effect, but it’s somewhat different from the oozing pumpkin.

By: Caran Wysong

Caran Wysong — Thu, 03 Nov 2005 23:12:32 +0000

My son is in 6th grade and came home with an assignment to do a science experiment in front of the class in about a month. Would it be possible for him to do the oozing pumpkin? Is the formula in one of your books? If you don’t think this would be a good choice, do you have any other cool suggestions. BTW, I love you website and the videos. I found it while searching for something for him to do.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 03 Nov 2005 17:24:46 +0000

Your daughter’s high school chemistry teacher can contact Flinn Scientific to purchase the materials to do the experiment. Only certified chemistry teachers can purchase from Flinn Scientific (because of liability reasons as you might imagine).

The chemical reaction inside the pumpkin produces a small amount of acetylene gas which is ignited. The reaction is dangerous for someone to try unless they have a good chemistry background. The demo has become quite popular among chemistry teachers thanks to Flinn Scientific.

By: Joyce Howard

Joyce Howard — Thu, 03 Nov 2005 16:47:37 +0000

How can I find out the procedure to produce the exploding pumpkin. My daughter is in 10th grade
in the Animo South Los Angeles High School. I know
she and her friends would love to do this in class
with their science teacher for fun.