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I wrote recently about one of my first science experiments: successfully building a crystal radio. A few years later my eighth-grade class had to create a science demonstration for a project. A simple poster was acceptable.
I would love to use the real name of the kid who made a truly spectacular project, but alas, he still lives...and you might know of him. So I will call him "Orville." He made a papier-mache volcano where a small amount of water would trickle down a river into a pit of acid in the base of the volcano. It would spurt out steam like a real volcano. He hoped the steam would drip back down into the base of the volcano to keep the eruption going.
It actually worked — except not in the way he hoped. Once the water reached the chamber beneath the volcano, there was a big explosion. A fire erupted as the papier-mache burned. Reproducing the last days of Pompeii was not what any of us expected, but such is life when you are lucky enough to be there. (Lucky for the kids in our class. Not so much for the citizens of Pompeii.)
Orville instantly became a much-loved hero in our student body. I think it served him well. He probably has never been more popular than he was that day.
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My high school chemistry teacher (1972-ish) was demonstrating the violent reaction when sodium meets water. But while making the demonstration he used a slightly too large piece of sodium. The resulting reaction exploded the beaker in which he was conducting the demonstration. Fortunately none of the glass shards hit anyone.
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Although not nearly as exciting, as an adult my favorite science project display was one (one of the frequent projects testing food preferences of the family pet) in which it was clear that the student realized part way through his tests that he had failed to control for one of the variables that might affect the results of the test (in this case the position of the food dish). I liked it because the student got a good lesson in how difficult it is sometimes to anticipate all the variables that might affect the testing project. An issue that affects scientists throughout their careers.
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My older brother Bruce and his friend Luther worked on a science project about 1966 when the boys were about 12. Sadly neither walks the planet anymore so I have no reservations in telling their story.
Luther was from a very devout, tea-totaling Lutheran family. My family...not so much. My father the pharmacist and my mother with her P.H.T. degree (put hubby through) successfully operated a small town pharmacy in central Minnesota. When we, their children, acted out in school, church, scouts, etc. our parent learned quickly of our misdeeds before we could get home and tell our side of the story.
One day Luther's mother came into the drug store and proudly told my mother of Bruce & Luther's science project. They had an experiment going in the basement that involved glass bottles and a balloon at the end of the bottle capturing gases. Luther's mother was so impressed how seriously they were learning science. Luther told her not to touch the bottle or balloon. Of course Luther's household was quite innocent of wine making. My family...not so much.
When Bruce got home that evening my parents STRONGLY insisted that they stop the experiment, immediately bring it to our house for destruction and likely other punishments I do not remember.
That was my most memorable science experiment gone wrong.
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Technically not a formal science project, but a friend of ours (a mother of several children late elementary to middle school age) was working in the kitchen while the kids were playing in the yard. On occasion one or another of the children would ask mom for a pot or some kitchen food ingredient. After a couple of these requests she got curious and went out to find out what they were doing.
The oldest child had learned in science class that one could make something that would explode in a reasonably spectacular fashion out of common kitchen ingredients, and they were trying to replicate this. (This was pre-internet.)
Rather than shut down the kids' project, mom supervised research and formulation so the kids got to make their explosive device with minimal risk of injury.
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