Safety+Precautions

= These are directly from the website on home page however effective warnings of the potential danger on my experiment ! =

Hydrogen has been used in place of the methane producing much faster burning suds clusters, but the hazard is much greater. Also, because of its very low density, the hydrogen bubble-snake tends to lose its head after only reaching a height of 30-40 cm. For safety reasons, we do NOT recommend the substitution.

Make sure ventilation is adequate.

CAUTION: SAFETY GOGGLES SHOULD BE WORN AT ALL TIMES, AND A FIRE EXTINGUISHER SHOULD BE ON HAND. REMOVE ALL COMBUSTIBLE MATERIAL FROM THE VICINITY OF THE DEMONSTRATION. NOTE: A 10 CM HIGH COLUMN MAY PRODUCE A FLAME WELL OVER A METER TALL. LET THE HEIGHT OF YOUR CEILING AND THE FLAME RETARDANT CAPABILITY OF THE CEILING TILES DICTATE HOW LARGE A CLUSTER CAN BE SAFELY IGNITED.

The safest manner for presenting this is to turn the gas jet off, scoop the column off the funnel, set it down on the lab bench at least 2 meters away, and ignite it with a lit candle attached to the end of a meter stick. The columns may be lit from the bottom (this produces the fastest burning and therefore the largest flame), from the top (this shows an interesting fuse-like downward progression of the fire) or from somewhere in between.