Chris Dyer graduated from Princeton in the spring of 2004 and died in Iraq in 2005.
I mention this because I remember doing this demonstration with Chris and his dad in the side yard of the old Princeton High School building. The AP chemistry students that year had seen an 'ice bomb' sold by Flinn Scientific. The thing they were selling was nothing more than an elbow of steel pipe with two screw caps. As the water freezes in the pipe, the water expands and eventually causes the pipe to explode.
I told the students we couldn't do that because I didn't have access to dry ice. I didn't mind spending the $20 or so (Flinn no longer sells that item, so I can't check the actual price) on the pipe, but I didn't have the dry ice or liquid nitrogen necessary to freeze the water inside it.
Chris piped (sorry) up that his father worked at a lab and had easy access to dry ice. So I ordered the pipe. John Dyer took the day off and came to school with his son.
And we blew up a pipe in the side yard.
Stupidly - because it was less fun to see - we blew it up inside a 3/4" plywood box. Smartly - because nobody got hurt and I got to keep my job - we blew it up inside a 3/4" plywood box.
That's my lasting memory of Chris Dyer.
And I'm really glad that The Action Lab guy moved his safety shield in front of himself and his camera just in time. I was worried throughout the first part of the video.
(Sorry for this being a bit of a downer post. Feel free to make a donation to the Chris Dyer Memorial Scholarship fund - either of them.)
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