this post was submitted on 17 May 2026
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Water makes explosions worse.
I had put a bunch of dry ice into a Falcon tube (50 mL screw top plastic centrifuge tube) and suddenly realised that I wasn't actually in the mood for a loud bang, so I chucked it into a perspex water bath. The bang was muted but the water spout hit the ceiling and the water bath failed, drenching my supervisor's notes.
Friend thought water on a grease fire was only bad because some flaming grease would get washed away, so threw a bucket of water at a grease fire from a fish fry over a big concrete patio. He thought it may spread, but that it would be something he could then stamp out pretty easily.
And that's how he learned the ignition point of oil is way higher than the boiling point of water and that steam explosions are exciting.
Fortunately, he mostly missed with the water, so singed eyebrows (and probably stained pants), were all the damage.
Test failed successfully.