Fun with catalysts
One excellent lesson in Chemistry saw a demonstration of the joy of catalysts - in the fume cupboard a small quantity of aluminium powder was mixed with iodine crystals and then a little water mixed with washing up liquid added. An impressive amount of purplish-brown smoke was produced.

In an eerie coincidence a few weeks later on a Friday evening I discovered that an entire jar of aluminium powder and another of iodine crystals had unexpectedly turned up in my schoolbag, perhaps due to a clerical error of some sort. Clearly the responsible thing to do was return them first thing Monday.

And so it was that Saturday afternoon saw myself and several other reprobates heading to the park with a suspiciously clinking rucksack. The road into the park lead through a cutting - and had a dogleg partway along - as the main road had built-up berms either side, so we figured it would be perfect for concealing our activities. Setting up shop out of sight of both park and main road, near a drain, we hauled out the supplies.

Knowing naught of such things as "small-scale preliminary testing" or "dry runs" or indeed "caution" we just mixed the whole lot together into a rough cone about 6 inches high with a dip in the top and tipped on some water.

The results were everything we could have hoped for as plumes of purple-brown smoke began to billow out of the pile. And then they were far more than our worst nightmares as we scrambled up the bank just ahead of a vast poisonous cloud that rapidly filled the entire cutting.

We stood on the top looking down in awe as it spread to fill 30 or more feet of the dogleg. Then a man in a white car drove round the corner and straight into the cloud.

In the spirit of true scientific enquiry we all legged it in different directions and never spoke of it again.
( The Light in Chains don't touch the Pope's boner, Fri 10 Aug 2012, 16:24, 2 replies)

He's probably dead
Could be a UK version of "I know what you did last summer"
(thefuckestuppest cheapened this, on, Fri 10 Aug 2012, 16:48, closed)

I showed an unusual interest in local news for a few days
but nothing came of it. I wasn't questioned by the police or anything (not for this incident, anyway).
( The Light in Chains don't touch the Pope's boner, Fri 10 Aug 2012, 17:05, closed)