Monday, January 24, 2011

You Can't Do This In Florida

I wouldn't exactly call our son "Mr Science". Brandon has always been attracted to off the wall crazy stunts because they are, well.... crazy... not because of the scientific properties involved. I spent much of his adolescence praying that he came home with limbs intact and hoping that he wasn't being escorted by the local police. Not that he was a "bad" kid, he just liked doing goofy stuff. If you get more than one boy with an attraction to goofy stuff in the same room, even if it is for just a few minutes, chances are you are going to need stain remover. Left unattended you may require a fire extinguisher or a new counter top. That only begins to explain why we have home video of what appears to be a flying vacuum cleaner. But I digress.


We have had a real cold snap here in the 'burg. Our overnight lows have been in the teens or even single digits for over a week. The windchill has been frigid by any standards. It was not enough to put a damper on Brandon and his now adult friends and their goofy antics.




It turns out that when the temperature is 5 degrees or below and you toss boiling water into the air - it vaporizes! It also makes a really cool sound! Scientific principals aside, it is fun!
Boiling tap water combine with frigid temperatures and you have what amounts to a poor mans version of fireworks. After the Steeler victory last night Brandon and his friends tossed several gallons of boiling water into the air to celebrate - and nobody lost a finger or shot their eye out.




Naturally I had to get Brandon to show me how it was done. Early this morning we boiled up some water in the microwave and whoosh! Vapor! How cool is that?
Ok, you had to know that Brandon got that "goofy" gene somewhere.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good thing you can't do that in Florida, because you know my boys well enough that they would try!
Bernie

Barb Johnson said...

I normally do NOT like the cold weather.... But now I want the temperature to go back down so that I can try it!