My brother and I made rockets from rolled up and glued note cards, fueled with potassium nitrate and powdered sugar. Those puppies made it to the next neighborhood a mile away.
The black powder versions had mixed reviews.
I once discovered that if you broke the “good stuff” off of sparklers, ground it up and lit it, it made a nice flare.
Well, in 7th grade, we studied volcanoes in my social studies class, and as a project, I made a volcano out of clay and put ground sparkler material in the crater at the top.
So, I brought my project to school to be displayed with other kids’ creations, along with a little bottle of fuel that the teacher wisely took charge of.
When the time came, they actually allowed me to demonstrate it, with the principal standing guard at the back of the room. It was a huge hit with the kids, and I got an “A” for the project.
One slight problem.
Not long after, there was a fire in the same room where the demonstration took place. I knew it wasn’t my fault as the fuel was totally consumed and I had already taken my project home, but word was that I was considered as the cause of the conflagration.
It turns out that what was then called a “juvenile delinquent” was actually to blame, a guy who not many years later spent some serious time in jail for rape and God knows what else. I went on to a career as an engineer, and he was a career criminal.
I don’t know what discussions took place in the background, but I only know that I lucked out.