Important: Safety Warning
This page contains instructions involving gunpowder or other explosive or pyrotechnic compositions. Preparing explosives as described has caused severe injuries and deaths, and is illegal in most places.
In addition, this page, written for children, describes experiments or amusements involving hazardous chemicals, electricity, or projectiles. The activities described have caused serious injuries and should not be attempted at any age without proper training, supervision, and equipment.
This information has been left in for historical purposes but should not be acted upon.
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The Lightning Stroke Imitated
If the jar D be put behind the stand, and the cloud 2 removed, a vessel communicating by means of a wire with the outside of the jar may be swum in water under the remaining cloud; the mast being made of two pieces, and but slightly joined together, with a hollow space in one half of the mast, into which the ends of the conductor pass, but do not touch, leaving an interval of about a quarter of an inch between them. The hollow is then filled with gun-cotton, and closed with cork. When the cloud is passed over the vessel, the mast will be struck and shattered to pieces. A strip of tinfoil, arranged with pins over the hollow part of the mast, will show how a continuous conductor will convey the discharge safely away.