A way to produce gas rapidly?

[Splych]

I've been trying to research lately on a way to rapidly produce gas to fill a balloon quickly through a chemical reaction that can be done w/ household materials. Is there any combination of reactants that can be picked up at a local hardware store or drug store to recreate this?

Was not sure where to post this, so I ended up posting this in the General Off-Topic section.

EDIT: I've also thought about baking soda + vinegar in a water bottle then putting a balloon on top. Just haven't tried it yet to see if it'll fill it quickly enough.

 

[gifi4]

1.Get someone who can rip killer farts
2.Stick a balloon behind them.
3.???
4.Profit!

 

[loco365]

1.Get someone who can rip killer farts
2.Stick a balloon behind them.
3.???
4.Profit!

5. Pop behind an unsuspecting victim.

 

[Tom]

There is a way to generate hydrogen through electrolysis, but unless you use a car battery or an outlet its pretty slow. Better then helium though

 

[Joe88]

chlorine + rubbing alcohol

 

[Gahars]

Taco Bell usually does the trick... and then some.

 

[air2004]

chlorine + ammonia will create a gas . but it will kill you

 

[VinvinMario]

When I was child, I remember a guy who used to sell gas balloons to the neighbourhood in a wheel cart. He had a small cylinder in which I often saw him putting some stones (Calcium Carbide), adding water and then closing it. He then turned on a knob while grabbing a balloon on the nozzle of the cylinder. and POP, a floating balloon!

Good ol' memories.

I cannot recommend it without your research though. The carbide will produce gases which are inflammable. I used to create a small tin bomb for recreational purpose.

You put the carbide on the floor put a few drops of water and top it with a tin can with a hole on its top, after 3-4 seconds if you light that hole, it flies 30-40 metres high in a straight line towards the sky along with a bang. It's dangerous but fun.

 

[Splych]

/thread
I searched up some of your suggestions. The idea of just using baking soda 'nd vinegar seems to be the safest to be used indoors compared to the rest of the given ideas.

 

[Devin]

But you know you want to try VinvinMario's idea.

 

[Snailface]

/thread
I searched up some of your suggestions. The idea of just using baking soda 'nd vinegar seems to be the safest to be used indoors compared to the rest of the given ideas.

What, this method isn't good enough for you or something?

Spoiler: WARNING! Perfect solution inside! Mature and high-brow tempers only!

The internet never fails to amaze

 

[marcus134]

hydrogen peroxide and some grounded liver (or any other thing that hold a lot of peroxidase).
it should give a reaction of similar strength to vinegar + baking soda, except the gas released will be hydrogen.
as an added bonus you can lit the balloon and watch it make a fireball; my chemistry teacher did it once in class, he held it with a stick to not burn his finger.

funny bit: I did the liver-peroxide experiment in class and we used test tube, the liver bits I used ended up on the ceiling and stayed there till the end of the year.

 

[Splych]

I actually thought Vinvin's idea was pretty crazy. Out of all of the ones I saw online, the way he simply described wasn't just some bomb that exploded, he said it FLEW into the air AND exploded. Maybe over the summer break I could try it out in an open field and see it for myself

Airbags rapidly produce N2 gas to fill it up in less than a second. Baking Soda and Vinegar takes about... more than a second to complete react and fill up. It's a good analogy I won't lie, since it seemed to be the simplest way of producing a gas and containing it, however I was curious to see if I could duplicate the reaction so that I could produce gas just as fast with household materials. Sadly, many of the methods are simply too dangerous.

Hydrogen Peroxide + Grounded liver... then lighting it. Huh, I will suggest that to my chemistry teacher and see if we can do it before the semester ends!

 

[Psionic Roshambo]

Not sure if its fast but this one might be the most fun... lol

http://chemistry.about.com/b/2012/08/25/how-to-make-nitrous-oxide-or-laughing-gas.htm

 

[Deleted-236924]

I tend to sometimes produce gas at a surprisingly fast rate depending on what I eat.
Maybe you could look into reproducing the situation.

 

[marcus134]

Hydrogen Peroxide + Grounded liver... then lighting it. Huh, I will suggest that to my chemistry teacher and see if we can do it before the semester ends!

thinking back, it wasn't grounded but mashed with a pestle and mortar with some sand to grind it. the point is that you want the highest surface/volume ration to get a stronger reaction

 

[VinvinMario]

That video demonstrates it. Those are however huge barrels, way too dangerous in my opinion. I wouldn't do it that big. I used simple cans like your food cans, tomato cans. The stone need not be big. Maybe half an Oz to one Oz.

• Never forget an eye gear.
• Never keep your head right above the can while putting it on fire.
• Always ensure that the can is not tilted. If it is tilted, it wouldn't go straight up.
• Use a long strip of paper to light the can or something else that keeps you far from the can.

 

[Veho]

I cannot recommend it without your research though. The carbide will produce gases which are inflammable. I used to create a small tin bomb for recreational purpose.

Ah yes, we used to use it instead of firecrackers when I was a kid. Firecrackers were expensive, and carbide was sold by the pound.

It's a wonder nobody got killed, really


Does it have to be a chemical reaction (you mentioned a chemistry teacher so it probably does)? You could just get a CO2 cartridge, those 12 gram ones are relatively cheap expand to 6 liters of CO2, enough to inflate a (smallish) airbag, and the expansion is very fast.

 

[astrangeone]

hydrogen peroxide and some grounded liver (or any other thing that hold a lot of peroxidase).
it should give a reaction of similar strength to vinegar + baking soda, except the gas released will be hydrogen.
as an added bonus you can lit the balloon and watch it make a fireball; my chemistry teacher did it once in class, he held it with a stick to not burn his finger.

funny bit: I did the liver-peroxide experiment in class and we used test tube, the liver bits I used ended up on the ceiling and stayed there till the end of the year.

I remember that experiment. That was pretty fun, and I recall asking the teacher if he ate liver. I didn't get the hydrogen fireball part, although.

 

[Veho]

Googled that reaction a bit, it also works with ground-up potato. Interesting.