How to Make an Explosion

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Have a blast with these fun and safe ways to create an explosion at home

Co-authored by Bess Ruff, MA and Eric McClure

Last Updated: May 13, 2024 Fact Checked

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Baking Soda & Vinegar

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Hydrogen Peroxide, Soap & Yeast

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Ivory Soap

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Diet Coke & Mentos

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Expert Q&A

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Warnings

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Things You'll Need

To call it an experiment would be incorrect (you are doing a demonstration!) but no matter what you call it, an explosion is a great way to have fun with science. Whether you're looking for a science fair project or you want to just have some fun and use your brain, we'll walk you through 4 cool ways to create a DIY explosion.

How to Create an Explosion

Put some baking soda in a cup and slowly pour distilled white vinegar into it for a classic explosion.
Fill a bottle 1/4 full with hydrogen peroxide, then add a squirt of dish soap, some food coloring, and a mixture of yeast and water for a vibrant explosion!
Cut up a bar of Ivory soap, then microwave it for 90 seconds for a slow and riveting bubbly blast.
Drop a Mentos into a bottle of Diet Coke for a foamy soda geyser.

Method 1

Method 1 of 4:

Baking Soda & Vinegar

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1
Fill a small container with a spoonful of baking soda. Any plastic or paper container will work for this. Set your container down with a newspaper or towel underneath, and add 1-2 teaspoons (5-10 g) of baking soda to the empty container.^{[1]
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- The more baking soda you use, the more powerful the reaction will be.
- This is the classic volcano experiment that many people are familiar with. If you want to make a volcano, set a paper cup down and use modeling clay to form the body of the volcano around the cup.
2
Pour distilled white vinegar slowly into the container. Put on some rubber gloves and protective eyewear. Use a funnel or watering can to slowly pour distilled white vinegar into the container. The baking soda and vinegar reaction takes a few seconds to occur, so don’t pour the vinegar out all at once!^{[2]
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- If you pour too quickly, the reaction will cause a serious mess.
- White vinegar can be a skin irritant, so try to avoid getting wet as your explosion goes off.
- Baking soda and vinegar react because vinegar is an acid and baking soda is a base. The combination creates an explosion burst of carbonation that causes the vinegar to bubble up and expand.

Method 2

Method 2 of 4:

Hydrogen Peroxide, Soap & Yeast

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1
Set out all of your supplies. Get some 30% hydrogen peroxide, dish soap, food coloring, dried yeast, water, a funnel, and an empty 2 liter (0.5 US gal) soda bottle.^{[3]
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- Set up your demonstration in an area that will be easy to clean up.
2
Pour some hydrogen peroxide into the empty soda bottle. Hydrogen peroxide is a skin irritant, so throw on some rubber gloves and protective eyewear. Pour a little bit of hydrogen peroxide into your empty container so that you fill the bottom 1/4 of the bottle.^{[4]
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- Use a funnel and get help from an adult if you’re worried about making a mess.
Pour 1–2 tablespoons (15–30 mL) of liquid dish soap into the soda bottle. Any kind of dish soap will work.^{[5]
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This is optional, but whatever color you add will look really neat once the explosion goes off! Add a healthy squirt of food coloring if you want your explosion to have a color. You can use any color you like.^{[6]
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Mix 1 tablespoon (8.5 g) of dried yeast with 3 tablespoons (44.4 ml) of water in a separate, small bowl.^{[7]
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Pour the watery yeast into the soda bottle. Pour it in quickly and stand back! The reaction will cause the peroxide, yeast, and soap to expand and shoot out the top of the bottle.^{[8]
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- The yeast and the hydrogen peroxide will combine to make an explosion of foam. The dish soap helps capture the oxygen to enable the explosion to take place. Be careful, this reaction is exothermic, which means it creates heat.^{[9]
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Method 3

Method 3 of 4:

Ivory Soap

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1
Get a bar of Ivory soap. Choose a fresh, unused bar of unscented Ivory soap. The brand is important, so don’t try to swap the Ivory out for some other brand.^{[10]
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- Unscented Ivory soap is unique because it’s almost entirely pure soap (in the sense that it’s just raw fat and oil, which is actually what soap is!). Because it’s so pure, the air pockets inside of the soap will expand when you heat it.
Have a parent help you if you aren’t able to handle a knife. Put the soap on a cutting board and cut it into about 6 equal-sized pieces. Just use a butter knife and cut it into 6 pieces.^{[11]
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Microwave the pieces for 90 seconds. Put the pieces of soap onto a plate or a piece of wax paper. Set the plate in your microwave and set it for 1.5 minutes.^{[12]
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- Depending on the strength of your microwave, you may need to heat it for a little longer (or a little shorter) to get it this to work.
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Watch your soap explode as it heats up. Keep your eyes on the soap as it is heated. Watch how it expands to an enormous size.^{[13]
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- Depending on how long you heat the soap, it will eventually “pop.” If you want to make cleanup easy, open the microwave door before it looks like the soap is going to burst.
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Wait until the soap cools to clean it up. Give the soap 5-10 minutes to cool down. Then, use a damp rag to scoop the soap into a trash bag and clean the microwave.^{[14]
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- Clean the microwave with dish soap and water to remove any soap residue.

Method 4

Method 4 of 4:

Diet Coke & Mentos

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Get a large Diet Coke or A&W root beer. Get a large 2 liter (0.5 US gal) bottle of Diet Coke or Diet A&W root beer.^{[15]
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American Chemical Society
Scientific society for those involved with chemistry and publisher of several leading peer-reviewed scientific journals

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- This is probably the messiest way to make an explosion, so be sure to work in an area that is easy to clean up! If possible, do this outside.
- You can actually do this experiment with any soda, but the aspartame levels in Diet Coke and Diet A&W Root Beer are very high. Aspartame is a key ingredient in the explosion, so your results may be lacking if you choose a soda other than Diet Coke or A&W. The lack of sugar also makes cleanup a lot less sticky!^{[16]
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- Use a brand-new soda. A flat soda will make a less impressive explosion.
The original Mentos is the classic ingredient, but it’s 100% okay to use rock salt if you don’t feel like going candy shopping.^{[17]
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Open the soda bottle and drop in the Mentos or rock salt. Immediately get out of the way, though! A giant geyser of soda will explode up into the air. Be careful or you'll end up taking a shower in soda.^{[18]
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American Chemical Society
Scientific society for those involved with chemistry and publisher of several leading peer-reviewed scientific journals

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Expert Q&A

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Question

Where can I buy ammonium dichromate?

Bess Ruff, MA
Environmental Scientist
Bess Ruff is a Geography PhD student at Florida State University. She received her MA in Environmental Science and Management from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2016. She has conducted survey work for marine spatial planning projects in the Caribbean and provided research support as a graduate fellow for the Sustainable Fisheries Group.

Bess Ruff, MA

Environmental Scientist

Expert Answer

A local chemical supply company should sell it. You can also find it online if there isn't a chemical supply company near you.

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How do I make a very large explosion?

Community Answer

If you mix a little bit of sodium hydroxide, drain cleaner, with aluminium foil in a large bottle, it will create a gas. If you capture the gas in a balloon, and put it next to a fire, it will create a massive fiery explosion which will easily shake your house if you are doing it in your backyard.

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Where do I get liquid nitrogen?

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You can buy it online. The most popular ones are from Williams Medical Supplies.

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Warnings

Do not use dry ice to create a pressurized explosion. This is extremely dangerous and it’s actually a felony to even attempt this in most states.^{[19]
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Schools used to perform the volcano experiment with ammonium dichromate (also known as chromic acid or diammonium salt), but this is no longer done for a reason. Ammonium dichromate is a poisonous gas and is now known to be a carcinogen.^{[21]
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