I'm looking for some things to explode on our upcoming camping trips.
A couple of years ago I was listening to a talk radio station, they were talking about it and an old lady (maybe 70) called in and talked about being raised on a large farm.
Her Dad would inflate a large tractor tube with oxygen and acetalene and ingnite with an M-80 with a long fuse.She said it would actually mushroom.
I would love to do/see this but it scares the shit out of me.
In school I always heard that you NEVER put oxygen into a tube...and I'd imagine that acetalene would just make things worse.
So what's the scientific reason for not putting oxygen into a tube? Could it react with the petroleum from the tube?
I've always heard that a pile of oily rags could self ingnite.Never seen it though.
I'm thinking that even though somebody got away with it several times it still aint safe.

pressurized oxygen is nothing to mess around with because it can compress the petroleum causing a diesel effect.  basically when you compress diesel and air the diesel will detonate.  that's how trucks work.

a pile of rags with linseed oil on them will create heat as the the oil evaporates and dries.  they may get hot enough to ignite the rags but it takes a while and is more of an accident than something exciting.  99 out of 100 times they will do nothing.

don't try to make bombs and crap.  it's illegal and dangerous.

There have been a lot of thing done "down on the farm" over the past, say, 10,000 years. Most of them that have been related by anecdotal evidence are best not repeated. I personally have seen acetylene torches used to thaw diesel storage tanks. I left.

why don't you look into tannerite...I don't know too much about it, but I bet some other folks here do...I've heard some stories that might make this a much safer way to go.  Do a little research and see what you come up with.  

Beat ya to it...a simple google search gave me this: [url]http://www.tannerite.com/she_exploding_targets.html[/url]

The oxygen works as an accelerant (actually and oxydizer but the effect is what I am in reference too)  What happens is everything needs O2 to burn.  When O3 is available in excess quantities, it will lower the ignition point and increase the burn rate to an explosive level.  The reason the tube explosion would cause a mushroom is the shape.  The open area in the center combined with a directed explosion (the tube laying down combined with the shape will direct the force.  I.E.  shaped charge) will cause the force to go out and then create a vacuum.  As the blast material comes back to the center and bumps into itself, it can go no where but up.  Therefor, a mushroom.  When in service, we would take a 55 gal drum full of foo gas (diesel and high phosphor detergent)  set it in a large hole, surround the hole with det chord and C4.  We would have 1 block of c4 under the drum with det chord tiying it in to the ring.  (for example, det shord is what was used to clear the secondary LZ in the movie "We Were Soldiers")  This was a nuke simulator.  When we set it off, it would put up a mushroom cloud 500' in the air and about 80' diameter.  It was awesome.  Oh yeah, fertilizer works great with the diesel too.  That is where McVeigh learned to make the oklahoma bomb.  This can be ignited with a rocket motor igniter or an M80.  Tracers also work great for igniting it.  However, without specific training in handling the stuff, I highly recommend against it.  It is dangerous and you will be surprised at just how strong an explosion you can get out of the stuff.

Hey Dude,

Just one note. Before you do this remember to say "Here, hold my beer and watch this!"

NMSight

Tannerite makes a nice [b]BANG[/b], plus you get to shoot at the same time.

http://www.totse.com/en/bad_ideas/ka_fucking_boom/index.html
Lots of things not to try doing when with a couple freinds in a remote place.

The bad idea here is filling any container with an explosive gas mixture.  Bad idea is any static electriciy discharge will cause detonation.

I have heard of trashbags doing this.  The results from just a small ziplock baggie are devastating.  A trashbag is downright lethal.  An innertube with its 2-5 PSI is downright crazy.

I've done it at my work once, with the boss standing right there, no less.  Used a cutting torch set to the right mixture to inflate a rubber glove, tied it off, and lit it with a piece of fuse.  That small amount sounded about like an M-80.  I don't think I'd want to go much larger than that though.  We had the neighbors from a business across the street over there within two minutes to see what the "big bang" was.  "Just a firecracker, sir."  =)

DONT DO ANYTHING THE DIPSHITS ON THAT SITE DESCRIBE!

I've read through the stuff posted there. Contributed by semi-literate junior high school students who probably think that they know what they're doing after reading The Anarchist Cookbook.

Check out Tannerite exploding targets, I think it's just what you're looking for.  It's an explosive powder that detonates when shot with a rifle bullet [url]www.tannerite.com[/url]

That site is an accident waiting to happen.
I like tannerite.
Small (very small) propane tanks at a distance next to lit flares at night are fun to shoot too.
That's about my limit.

O2 and certain petrochemical products will flash on contact.  In another life I used to assistant teach the Aviation Physiology Intro at Pensacola.    Some of the pictures were chapstick and a drop of liquid O2 from malfunctioning system.  OUCH.  Check yer systems.

Get that flash in a confined system and explosive atmosphere and who knows what will happen.