Back in the 1950s and '60s, there used to be a show on the BBC called the Billy Cotton Band Show. One time, during a pre-filming photo shoot, the photographers were using a small explosive flash in one of their pianos. A technician packed some flour around the explosive, thinking it would look like smoke for the shot. Flour can be highly flammable, however, and there was a large explosion that seriously injured several people.
The injuries led to a lawsuit, and Colonel B.D. Smith, then a chemist at the University of Nottingham, was brought in as an expert witness.
Dr. Martyn Poliakoff tells the story, showing footage made by Smith as he performed several experiments with flour and explosives. It turns out, with the right mix of a "flashpot" and flour, you can completely obliterate a piano:
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The only problem? Smith didn't keep detailed records of his experiments, so we don't know what was done, and can't replicate the research! Always remember kids, when you blow up a piano for science, make sure to write down exactly how you blew it up so future generations will know how to properly blow up their own future pianos. It's called being scientifically responsible.
-
The UK’s ‘wallaby boom’Under the Radar The Australian marsupial has ‘colonised’ the Isle of Man and is now making regular appearances on the UK mainland
-
Fast food is no longer affordable to low-income AmericansThe explainer Cheap meals are getting farther out of reach
-
‘The money to fix this problem already exists’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Blue Origin launches Mars probes in NASA debutSpeed Read The New Glenn rocket is carrying small twin spacecraft toward Mars as part of NASA’s Escapade mission
-
Dinosaurs were thriving before asteroid, study findsSpeed Read The dinosaurs would not have gone extinct if not for the asteroid
-
SpaceX breaks Starship losing streak in 10th testspeed read The Starship rocket's test flight was largely successful, deploying eight dummy satellites during its hour in space
-
Rabbits with 'horns' sighted across Coloradospeed read These creatures are infected with the 'mostly harmless' Shope papilloma virus
-
Lithium shows promise in Alzheimer's studySpeed Read Potential new treatments could use small amounts of the common metal
-
Scientists discover cause of massive sea star die-offSpeed Read A bacteria related to cholera has been found responsible for the deaths of more than 5 billion sea stars
-
'Thriving' ecosystem found 30,000 feet underseaSpeed Read Researchers discovered communities of creatures living in frigid, pitch-black waters under high pressure
-
New York plans first nuclear plant in 36 yearsSpeed Read The plant, to be constructed somewhere in upstate New York, will produce enough energy to power a million homes
