These engines work great if you build them right. However, we stress the importance of precision. In particular, make sure the end caps and nozzle are made perfectly, otherwise you’ll have a flare.

The post New Video: How to Make Rocket Engines from Scratch appeared first on Blasted Science.

The thing we cracked open is a big light from inside a projector TV. They are full of juice.

We don’t recommend spilling any on your driveway as it takes days to disappear. Don’t drink it either.

The post New Video: “Super Juicy” – Jacob’s Ladder Bonus Video appeared first on Blasted Science.

This is hands-down the easiest way to make a Jacob’s Ladder, period. All you need is an old TV and a death wish.

The actual tutorial in the video is quite subtle, so here’s a written explanation of exactly what we did:

Instructions:

1. Take apart a CRT TV. Be careful! They can implode if you crack the glass.
2. Rip the circuit board out. This will probably require cutting a few wires.
3. Plug it into the wall, and turn it on. You should hear a high-pitched noise. This is the part where you be EXTREMELY careful.
4. Two of the biggest (usually red) wires will arc up to a few centimeters. These are the wires you want. Don’t get your bare skin near them. Keep your left hand behind your back at all times.
5. Hook the two arcing wires up to a pair of metal rods that are in a long V-shape. Voila! That’s all there is to it.

You might have to initiate the spark by putting something metal between the two wires at the bottom.

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. A SINGLE MISTAKE WILL KILL YOU. The electricity is powerful enough to instantly kill you. Would not recommend.

The post New Video: How to Make a 20,000 Volt Jacob’s Ladder (Sort of) appeared first on Blasted Science.

Everyone always has a complaint about their iPad or, for that matter, any other tablet (we just prefer to roast the iPad in particular). Having trouble finding a good tablet? Trick question, there are none. You’ll have to make your own. Before you even take another step this will cost money. We know this breaks our own rules, but it’s unavoidable. Sadly, even Blasted Science can’t build a good tablet with parts found in a dumpster.

Being the master of electronics and engineering that we are we decided we should share our knowledge and wisdom with those of you at home who may not be so gifted. That doesn’t mean you; you must be smart because you’re reading this. Just tell everyone you know that they do not have the knowledge of the all-powerful Blasted Science to help them along the journey of life. we have done the research and we know we can make the most powerful tablet you have ever seen. We have decided that the best way to do this is a step by step process, so here it goes.

1. Do some research. It is important to have a good idea of what you want. Find a tablet that you would want and absorb all of the knowledge from the reviews. The details and specs are useless only go to reviews, preferably reviews written by people who have not bought the product.
2. Buy it. To make the tablet that fits you you will have to test it out and see what you like. While the reviews may be a very good source you are better. Test it out for a month all the while making a list of the things you do and don’t like.
3. Destroy it. You can’t be tethered to these Earthly objects when going through the process of engineering. I recommend meditation to get the clear mind that is necessary when destroying to rebuild. The destruction process is really important. You must open it up take out all the electronics in the case then use a sledgehammer to gently destroy it. Keep the case it will be important later.
4. Buy a new one. Now that you have that list of things you do and do not like buy one that fits those criteria. Once you have one that you know you like move on to the next step.
5. Take out the insides. We are still making our own.
6. Get the case out from earlier. Get the case and stuff the electronics from your new one in the old one. If it doesn’t fit then just saw off one side, it’ll probably still work.
7. Clickbait. Take out your 1000 DEGREE GLOWING KNIFE and slice the second tablet’s casing. YOU WON’T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT, ONLY 3% OF PEOPLE CAN SEE THE FUMES THAT IT EMITS! DO THE FUMES CONTRIBUTE TO GLOBAL WARMING??????
8. ENJOY! You are so welcome for the new and improved tablet.

We at Blasted Science accept tips, and welcome you to contact us and we will give you the opportunity to donate to us.

The post Build Your Own Tablet appeared first on Blasted Science.

Onion Omega2

The Omega2 is one of those increasingly popular single-board computers. It made its debut on Kickstarter last year. Is it any good?

I’ll be up-front about it. I’m not the target market for the Omega2. It’s similar to a Raspberry Pi Zero, but with one big difference: the Zero is designed for, well, doing a lot of things. The Omega2 is designed for IoT. Blasted Science has absolutely no interest in IoT whatsoever, but the price tag was absolutely irresistible at $5.

Actually, the version I’m reviewing is the $9 “Plus” version. The only difference is that the Plus variant has double the RAM and storage. This review should apply equally well to both models, though. Here’s the spec sheet:

Slower than the Pi Zero, but you don’t buy these for speed, right?

Shipping Woes

For a brief time, I was very disappointed in Onion’s shipping ability. It had been more than a month longer than they promised and I still hadn’t gotten our Omega2. However, it turns out it wasn’t their problem. I had forgotten to fill out the delivery form on Kickstarter. Oops. My bad.

Setup

The Omega2 was much more difficult to setup than I thought. To power it via MicroUSB, you need dock, purchased separately. The dock costs twice as much as the computer itself, which is a big disappointment. If the Pi Zero can incorporate USB and keep the price under $5, it seems inexcusable to make it an add-on feature for $10. Being a tightwad, I passed on buying it and decided to build my own power supply. I already had all the parts except one: a voltage regular. I found a pack of 10 on Ebay for cheap.

The power supply isn’t complicated at all, and is well documented. However, it still gave me a bunch of problems, which once again were likely my fault. The Omega2 would start booting up, but the power light would turn off after 10-20 seconds. After spending hours trying to isolate the problem, I discovered it was my power supply. As a quick hack, I swapped out a broken-out phone charger with 4 AA batteries. Success!

My messy, homemade Omega2 power supply. It’s simpler than it looks.

The setup process is surprisingly simple and well-designed. You interact with the Omega2 via another computer; connecting it to the Omega2 via Wifi. You simply point your web browser at a specific IP address and the setup can begin. All you have to do is give it your Wifi password, and you’re done. Optionally, you can update your device’s firmware and install the “console”. After that, you’re ready to begin using it.

Usage

One advantage the Omega2 has over any Raspberry Pi is that it comes with 32Mb of storage (64Mb for the Plus); this allows it to run a full Linux installation out of the box, no microSD card required. While it’s by no means a sizable amount of storage, it’s enough for basic functionality. Fortunately, it does have a microSD slot.

The underside of the Omega2

You can interact with the Omega2 via SSH or serial, but I didn’t try either one. The simplest method of interaction is via the same IP address used for setup. If you choose to install the console, you get a good-looking web interface loaded with a few useful apps.

Kinda reminds me of Ubuntu

To reiterate, I have no interest in actually using this device for IoT. I poked around the various apps, but have no real use for any of it. I did install Python and test a few lines of code, but that’s been the extent of my testing so far.

The Bottom Line

The Omega2 is a well-designed, low-cost Raspberry Pi competitor, although its cheap price rises quickly with the addition of basically-required accessories. It’s also pretty good at doing IoT things. Probably. I wouldn’t know. But it’s cool. It made a fine addition to my collection.

A pretty snazzy little machine. I bet it works just fine.

Various accessories for the Omega2 can be purchased at the official store.

The post Onion Omega2 Review – a Pi Zero with a Cool Trick appeared first on Blasted Science.

This update is a couple months late. We noticed.

The post New Video: Blasted Science Documentary appeared first on Blasted Science.

5. Spaghetti

A thermic lance is a heavy-duty demolition tool that burns steel alloys and aluminum in pressurized oxygen to create temperatures hot enough to cut… anything, really. Instead of burning steel, this do-it-yourself version uses spaghetti as fuel.

Spaghetti may not seem particularly flammable, but with pure oxygen just about everything becomes a pyromaniac’s dream. With just an oxygen tank, aluminum foil, and a small handful of spaghetti, you can make a thermic lance that burns hot enough to melt through concrete.

Thermic lances are used in construction and demolition to cut large pieces of steel. This homemade version can get hot enough to melt metal. All you have to do is hook up one side of a small hose to an oxygen tank and attach a small amount of spaghetti wrapped in aluminum foil to the other. Igniting the spaghetti in the oxygen-rich tube produces a crazy-hot flame, creating the cheapest steel-melting lance you’ll ever see.

It is worth noting that Blasted Science has constructed their own thermic lance. However, ours never runs out of oxygen. Instead of a tank, we hooked it up to an oxygen generator for longer burning.

4. Ammonia

Ammonia itself can be dangerous (inhalation not recommended), but when combined with iodine, the extremely volatile explosive Nitrogen Triiodide is formed. Touching it with just about anything is enough to make it explode.

All you need is ammonium hydroxide, easily purchased as a household cleaner, and iodine crystals, easily purchased online. Simply dissolve the iodine crystals in the ammonium hydroxide and wait a few hours. Pour the resulting liquid over filter paper to collect the explosive. Be careful: even though the compound is more stable while in solution, it can still potentially explode while dissolved.

Nitrogen Triiodide has no practical use, due to its extreme sensitivity to friction, but it can certainly be entertaining. Be extremely careful with these crystals; the slightest touch and you can kiss your fingers goodbye. It’s recommended that you start small, and work your way up to bigger amounts once you know what you’re doing.

Blasted Science attempted to make Nitrogren Triiodide, but our iodine samples weren’t nearly pure enough for it to work.  Sticking live wires into a bottle filled with iodized salt water probably wasn’t the best way to obtain iodine.

3. Etch-a-Sketch

This common toy is loaded with powdered aluminum. Aluminum, sadly, doesn’t burn. Unless it’s combined with rust, that is.

Mixing powdered aluminum and iron oxide (rust) in the correct ratio, three parts iron oxide to one part aluminum, creates thermite. Thermite isn’t explosive, but burns at insanely high temperatures and produces iron. However, it also requires insanely high temperatures to ignite; a normal flame won’t do it. Using a sparkler is an easy way to get it started. Never ignite thermite near yourself; it spews molten metal all over the place. You don’t want to be anywhere near it once it’s lit.

After the time of writing (this list has been in limbo for a long time), Grant Thompson and Cody’s Lab successfully created thermite from an Etch-a-Sketch. The video from Cody’s Lab goes into greater detail on their project.

Thermite burns at well above 4,000° Fahrenheit: hot enough to melt through things not usually considered meltable, such as dirt. Good luck finding a container that can hold it. Most commonly, ceramic containers are used, such as flowerpots. Surprisingly, it is 100% legal to own and use. Have fun.

2. Drain Cleaner

Drain cleaner, aluminum foil, and a pop bottle are used to make what is called a “Drano bomb.” Combining drain cleaner (sodium hydroxide) and aluminum foil produces hydrogen gas. If the reaction occurs in a sealed bottle, the pressure will increase until the bottle explodes.

Using drain cleaner to make bottle bombs can be very dangerous. The explosion can cause chemical burns and the loss of fingers. For this device in particular, please be mature. These bombs are often left in people’s yards and mailboxes, and can cause severe damage to people and property. Be extremely careful with explosives and never use them to harm anyone or anything.

Alternatively, try stretching a balloon over the mouth of the bottle. The balloon will fill with hydrogen gas, which is lighter than helium and extremely flammable. Try lighting the balloon with a match, even a small balloon will make a sizeable explosion. You’ll definitely want to wear thick gloves while lighting it.

Blasted Science’s hydrogen bomb in the making

Blasted Science can confirm that this works very well. Unfortunately, our video has become corrupted, and our only evidence is the single photograph above.

1. Lantern Battery

Using a power supply built from microwave oven transformers, the carbon rods in lantern batteries happen to work perfectly as electrodes in a miniature electric arc furnace hot enough to turn metal and rocks into molten goop.

The entire process is detailed by Grant Thompson in one of his most dangerous DIY projects to date. This project is a bit more complicated than the rest: you’ll need to use the transformers from a pair of microwaves to convert the electricity from your house into a current capable of forming an arc. But the effort is well worth it. With a couple of microwaves, pliers, carbon rods, and a block of firebrick, you can make a forge capable of melting just about everything imaginable.

However, all that power comes at the price of serious danger. This is easily the most dangerous item on this list. You’ll be dealing with electricity, extremely high temperatures, toxic fumes, and molten metal. Because of this, take appropriate safety measures. This project is not for the faint of heart.

Once again, Blasted Science has constructed their own version of this. However, it deserves more than just a mention in a list. Expect more information on our arc furnace in the future.

Just to prove we aren’t making this up

The post Top 5 More Household Items to Turn into Weapons appeared first on Blasted Science.

Learning about electricity can be overwhelming. The purpose of this series is to explain the fundamentals of electricity in a simple and practical way. Let’s get started.

What is Wall Power?

U.S. Wall Outlet

Also known as mains power, AC power, or household power, this refers to the electricity you get from those little wall sockets you plug everything into. Wall power is by far the most commonly used source of electricity for dangerous DIY projects. This is the only kind of electricity you’ll need to know about for anything Blasted Science does. In the United States, wall power is 120VAC at 60Hz, with a maximum current of 15A. That’s a lot of big numbers. We’ll go into more detail about what that means later in the series, but this essentially means three things about wall power:

• It can kill you.
• It can supply enough power for just about any project you can imagine.
• If you stick one end of a wire into both holes, there will be a big flash and the outlet won’t work anymore.

Thankfully, it’s easy to get the outlet working again. These days, it’s as easy as opening your fuse box and flipping a switch.

How to Use it

First things first: read our article on electrical safety. Now that you’re up to speed on the basic dangers of electricity, how do we even use it? We’ll need a cord that plugs into the wall socket, with the other ends exposed. The easiest way to hack this together is to find an old power cable or something similar and cut off one end with a railroad spike and hammer (or a pair of wire cutters). Inside the main cord there will be two or three smaller wires (Don’t worry about the one that plugs into the circular bottom hole, we won’t need it). Strip the ends of the smaller wires and you’ll have something like this:

You’re done! If you plug the cable into the wall and touch the two ends together, you’ll get some beautifully bright sparks and a blown fuse. This can already be used as a power supply for a number of projects, but it becomes far more useful with some additional parts. Later posts in this series will go into detail on what this can be used for. Stay tuned!

The post How to Use Electricity: Wall Power appeared first on Blasted Science.

Wrong.

Actually, you’re probably right. Tesla coil aren’t easy. Building one is a big accomplishment in the DIY electronics world. It takes lots of time and effort. Let’s try to remove those requirements with a quick crash course:

Tesla coils are one of the many inventions invented by Nikola Tesla. The Coils produces high-voltage, high frequency alternating-current electricity. They consists of two main parts: a primary coil, and a secondary coil. In fact, “Tesla” is actually Latin for “contains a primary and secondary coil.

By far the most difficult part of building one is finding a power source. These bad boys take some serious juice to operate. Once the power is connected the primary capacitor starts charging. As the capacitor fills up with electricity, that it lowers the air resistance of the spark. Then is leaves the capacitor and through the primary coil. As it does that it creates an electromagnetic field. Then again the immense charge, overloads and makes the magnetic field collapse in on itself. Generating an electric current in the secondary coil. The volts go through the air between the two coils creating a spark. It bounces back and forth through the coils, charging the secondary coil, and capacitor. Then it overloads and a spark breaks from the coil in a big burst of current.

Source: tb3.net

Tesla coils are very exciting and can be made fairly easily with a few feet of copper wire, and some capacitors. here’s a schematic for you smart folks:

Essentially, all they require is:

• A high voltage power supply.
• A bunch of capacitors.
• A freaking TON of copper wire wound into a coil.

That’s all there is to it. They’re simpler than most people think. In fact, it’s probably harder to wind the wire into a coil than it is to find and assemble all the parts. The hardest part is finding a high voltage DC power supply. They cost hundreds of dollars, or you can just make your own for much cheaper. We’ll have a tutorial on the details at some point.

Plenty of people on the internet have made Tesla coils, but this is one of our favorites. Sam Freeman’s coil requires beer bottles. This redneck nerd gets the official Blasted Science Seal of Approval.

Let’s assume for a moment that you have a competed Tesla coil. Why stop there? Here are some things you can do to it to make it even better.

A plasma gun

Source: RM Cybernetics

Car anti-theft system

Source: Tesla Down Under

Music

We’re ashamed to admit that we haven’t made our own Tesla coil yet, but we definitely will at some point. And when we do, we’ll have a tutorial detailing exactly how to do it with household parts. But if that sounds like too much work, you can buy a small one for just a few dollars. We’ve personally tested this one from Amazon. It’s a very good miniature plasma globe, which, as you may have guessed, is just a Tesla coil in a plastic globe. Definitely check this one out.

The post Tesla Coils appeared first on Blasted Science.

But not everyone can afford them. If you’ve been feeling particularly anarchist lately, this list of easy homemade weapons supports even the tightest budgets.

5. DVD Burner

These devices are built into just about every computer made within the last decade. Tearing one apart reveals a laser more than powerful enough to instantly blind anyone foolish enough to look into it. There are quite a few tutorials online detailing exactly how to extract the laser diode and build a laser pointer with only a few dollars’ worth of parts. A fog machine is optional, but

The laser’s power varies depending on the write speed of the burner. Output ranges from about 100 milliwatts (mW) to 400mW. At least 250mW is preferable for burning, meaning you’ll want a burner rated at least 16x.

It’s possible to see the beam in a dark room, but adding little fog turns it into a lightsaber.

Using a laser this powerful without any kind of eye protection is a seriously bad idea. If any amount of this futuristic weapon’s beam happens to hit your eye, you can expect permanent eye damage. Capable of burning a wide variety of materials, including flesh, you definitely won’t want your cat chasing this thing.

4. Styrofoam

Styrofoam is perfectly harmless by itself. However, dissolving it with gasoline yields a gooey, sticky substance remarkably similar to the napalm infamously used by the US military in the Vietnam War.

Napalm is an extremely long-burning substance that burns at up to 1,200° Celsius and adheres itself to skin. Many nations have signed an agreement to no longer use it in warfare, due to its horrific effects, such as causing death by burns and asphyxiation.

You’ll need quite a bit of styrofoam to make anything more than handful of napalm. It’s surprising how much Styrofoam can be dissolved in less than a cup of gasoline. Store your napalm in a mason jar to keep it from drying out. Or, if you’re feeling particularly adventurous (and have a lot of styrofoam), use something larger, like an empty paint can. Be careful when lighting any amount of napalm; once this stuff is lit, good luck trying to put it out.

The official Blasted Science can of napalm, which seems to be leaking gasoline.

3. Disposable Camera

It’s difficult to find disposable cameras these days, but it’s well worth the effort. Camera flashes use a circuit that increases the voltage of an ordinary AA battery from 1.5 volts to almost 400 volts, charging a capacitor to potentially deadly voltage levels. Definitely a weapon.

It’s possible to use more expensive cameras, too, but the circuitry is usually more complex. Disposable cameras use a simple circuit board that can easily be salvaged and repurposed. Extracting the circuit is incredibly simple and, with some minor changes, can be used as a taser. For the budget-conscious, many stores will happily give away used disposable cameras for free, and a single battery will last for a long, long time.

Try not to touch it. Brushing a hand against the business end stings like crazy. Touching it with both hands is a mistake you’ll never want to repeat. Licking it is highly recommended, just don’t expect to taste anything for a few weeks.

2. Super Soaker

Super Soakers are already entertaining, but it didn’t take long for people to figure out that they can shoot more than just water. Filling one with lighter fluid or alcohol is an easy way to make a cheap flamethrower. Simply attaching a candle in front of the nozzle and pumping it as normal can shoot flames at long-range. Not bad for less than thirty dollars.

Source

Using gasoline as a fuel is NOT recommended. Gasoline and plastic don’t like each other. The plastic used in Super Soakers isn’t particularly vulnerable to gasoline, but using a melted squirt gun would definitely cause problems. It’s be best to avoid gasoline altogether and use something like isopropyl alcohol instead.

This project is particularly dangerous. Depending on the design of the squirt gun, there is a chance that the flame will travel back into the tank and explode. As always, be extremely careful if you decide to build one for yourself.

1. Propane Torch

A self-igniting propane torch could already be considered a weapon, but to turn one into a sci-fi propane rifle, all you need is a few feet of plastic tubing and an empty soda bottle. Simply attach the propane torch to one end of the tubing, and the bottle to the other. Pressing the torch’s button will shoot a flame into the tube. When the flame reaches the bottle, a small explosion occurs.

Plenty of modifications are possible. For example, The Backyard Scientist added boric acid to color the flames green. And modifying it into a cannon capable of shooting golf balls 600 feet into the air.

Do-it-yourself weapons don’t get any easier. For just a few dollars you can own an incredibly powerful (and incredibly futuristic) propane-powered rifle straight out of Halo. Destruction has never been this easy.

The post Top 5 Household Items to Turn into Weapons appeared first on Blasted Science.