From Doug Pattison, Priston, Somerset, UK
Brian Collins describes one wrong way to blow up a balloon (Letters, 16 December 2017). In the mid-60s, I felt it right to mark the occasion of our last mess dinner at the Naval Engineering College – all those smart uniforms were too tempting. I filled balloons with talcum powder, glitter, hydrogen from the labs and a bit of Jetex fuse, planning to release one or two in the dining hall.
Luckily, I ran an outdoor test first. The result was a fireball about 3 metres in diameter that lit up the entire valley. The hydrogen flame was evidently hot enough to ignite the aluminium flakes in the glitter. I learned the great value of a full-scale trial!
