Kiera Wilmot Made a Water Bottle Explode. That’s How You Become
a Scientist.  The state of the universe. May 3 2013 12:37 PM
Felony Science  Making stuff explode is a seductive way to
become a scientist.  Pupils watch the effect produced by liquid
nitrogen during a demonstration at a local grammar school in
Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia on November 21,
2012. Doing chemistry that pushes beyond the boundaries of the
classroom can be the catalyst that turns a student into a
scientist  Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters  Sixteen-year-old
Kiera Wilmot’s curiosity was apparently piqued when a friend
told her that if you mixed hydrochloric acid and aluminum, an
exciting reaction happened. So she did what countless amateur
chemists before her have done: She went ahead and tried it. She
mixed toilet bowl cleaner—essentially colored hydrochloric
acid—and balls of aluminum foil in a small water bottle. The top
of the bottle blew off with a satisfying bang, and there was
even a puff of smoke.  Unfortunately