Nitrogen triiodide is expensive to make. It's also useless in any practical sense. But it's cool to watch — just the touch of a feather and it explodes into purple smoke. All it takes is ammonia and iodine.

The cap guns that kids use and poppers that they throw at the ground aren't just annoying. They contain one of the most unstable diy compounds that anyone could lose a hand to. The worrying concoction, called Armstrong's mixture, is one of the easiest, and most flammable, explosives that anyone would care to make.

You can etch words into metal with an explosion, and those words reveal a startling thing about how explosives work. It's called The Munroe Effect, named for a guy who helped make explosions more damaging than ever.

Ever noticed that, in movies, the slightest tap of a bullet on a car or a helicopter will cause it to burst into flames, without the presence of an accelerant or any source of fuel? Finally there's a physical effect that can explain why a metal bullet slamming into a metal car can cause it to turn into a fireball.…

We know that by heating things up can make them explode. How about by cooling them down? For those of you who doubt that you can make something explode by cooling it, just grab some white erasers and liquid nitrogen. Then stand back.

You know a science demonstration is going to be good when it contains the line, "Ask an assistant to light your hands for you." I can't tell you how much I wish I had access to a classroom chemistry lab right now. And chemistry students? Ask your teachers to do this for you to test their mettle!

When they're in molten potassium chlorate, of course! This quick demonstration shows a gummy bear wailing away while setting off a fire that looks like the inside of the sun. All done with potassium chlorate and a test tube.

We've been in love with Alan Sailer's high-speed photographs ever since he first fired a bullet at a strawberry. When he's not aiming ballistics at fruit, Sailer is blowing up beloved childhood toys, from Play-Dough to Pinkie Pie.

The mushroom cloud that forms after an atomic blast is almost an iconic. People use the terms "mushroom cloud" and "atomic bomb" interchangeably. But why does it form? And does it only go up after a nuclear blast? Let's find out.

Please. For the sake of your eyebrows, your lawn, your place of residence and your general wellbeing, do not try this at home. Definitely don't try it at anyone else's home.