Smoke Bombs

by Timby

There are many takes on how smoke bombs should be made! There is no correct method on how they should be made but I will tell you just some of the ways that are possible to make smokebombs. They vary from rather difficult, to extreamily easy.

Ping Pong Balls

The easiest way to make a smoke bomb for those without access to chemicals. Simpily go down to the supermarket and buy some ping pong balls then take them home and wrap the ball in al-foil (aluminium foil). Wrap the ball in a way so as that there is a handle like piece for you to hold onto whilst you light it.

http://www.timbymotions.com/Fireworks/Images/How_to_make/Smoke_bombs/pingpong_handle.jpg

And that is it, your smoke bomb is complete! Now to ignite the smoke bomb simpily hold the handle you made (or if you are scared place it on the ground) and light the actual ball part. It may take several seconds to ignite, but when it does you will get a nice (small) smokey mass.

Potassium nitrate/saltpeter and sugar

This is so easy it isn't funny, providing you have the right cheicals. Potassium nitrate/salt peter (kno3) can be bought from most chemists. But you may need to order it and it costs about $15 a pound. You will however, need an adult to buy it...if the people at the chemist ask why you are using it, say you are either preserving meat, or making fertiliser and they won't ask too many questions ;) Now to actually make the mixture, mix 4 parts sugar with 6 parts Potassium nitrate/salt peter.

Simple as that. I have found that it is fun to make a fair amount of mixture then half fill an EMPTY coke can with it, and use a sparkler as a fuse (use pliers to cut off the annoying metal bit that sticks off the end) by sticking the sparkler in the opening of the EMPTY can, and then ignite.

Potassium nitrate/saltpeter and sugar revised

To make the previous smoke bomb even better, you can melt the same mixture down! It works great because it becomes sticky and easy to mould, and not to mention lets off more smoke..

For small mixtures I used a pair of pliers, an old scon cup, and a metho burner (you can use anything that emits heat, the metho burner was just easy for me) then simpily light your heating device, fill the scon cup with the mixture, and hold it above the flame with the pliers. Keep a stick of some form with you (I used a schashlik skewer) in order to stir the mixture so it doesn't burn.

DANGER!

Make sure you don't have any excess mixture hanging on the edge. This happened to me once and the whole thing went up in flames...burnt my whole back steps and my thumb to boot! I was very lucky, my jumper only caught on fire a little bit and I was able to put it out. Very painful burn and I wouldn't reccomend trying it. You will see the mixture begin to brown around the edges and move around a bit, when you see this happening start moving the mix around a bit with the stick. Once your mixture has turned into a nice brownish goo, scrape it out with the stick onto something (I found tissues or ciggerette papers to work well) and mush some match heads into the mixture before it hardens up!

You can now quickly mould your smoke bombs into any shape you want, but be quick, for the mix hardens up rather fast.

And there you have it, the perfect smoke bomb! If you want to make bigger smokebombs just use a bigger mixture and an old sauce pan and a bigger flame.