Black Powder Recipe 
2003 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance
Fortunately no one gets killed in this story, but it wasn't for the lack of trying.
Many years ago, when we were smart aleck 8th graders, my friend Denny and I decided we needed to make some black powder for a little cannon I had secretely crafted in metal shop. Thinking we were budding chemists, we found the recipe in the public library and started gathering the ingredients.
After obtaining the potassium nitrate by forging Denny's father's signature, we set about carefully mixing up a half gallon jar full of the stuff. It was now time to test the mix. Thankfully, we didn't load the cannon right off. Instead, we took the whole jar out into an orchard and burned little piles of it on a brick. I was satisfied that our concoction was perfect.
You have to know Denny to appreciate what he did next. He was the kind of kid that played chicken with oncoming traffic while riding his bike. He would do things like throw empty spray paint cans on the campfire, and roll boulders down onto the highway. Now, I wasn't too clever myself, but I knew when not to tempt fate. Not Denny.
While one of the little piles was still smoldering, he picked up a chunk and dropped it into the jar of black powder. We both stood there like deer in the headlights until the jar burst into a gigantic fountain of flame and smoke. Even then, we only ran 20 feet away and stood there watching the spectacle. Finally, just as the lip of the jar started to crack, the whole thing detonated in a blinding flash that knocked us over and started small fires in the dead leaves of the orchard. We weren't hurt, but I later found several shards of glass embedded in my jacket. We ran like hell and swore never to tell a soul.
I'm now breaking that oath I made over 40 years ago. Although I've lost touch with Denny, I'm pretty sure he has long since removed his genes from the pool. Submitted on 11/27/2002
Submitted by:
Fred Castagna
Reference:
Copyright © 2002 DarwinAwards.com
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