[gundog]

I remember the jar of kerosene in chemistry, that held all of the large chunks of sodium. The teacher would carve off a little sliver, drop it in water, and Pow! He told us someone had dropped a good sized chunk off a bridge in ( I believe) Chicago, once, and blew out a bunch of windows.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

I remember the jar of kerosene in chemistry, that held all of the large chunks of sodium. The teacher would carve off a little sliver, drop it in water, and Pow! He told us someone had dropped a good sized chunk off a bridge in ( I believe) Chicago, once, and blew out a bunch of windows.

I had exactly the same experience. Little slivers of kerosene sliced off a big chunk that had been kept in kerosene, tossed into a fish tank, along with the same story about the bridge. It must be stock material with high school chemistry teachers.