We made one in high school during a weekend warrior outing. Armed to the teeth with pellet guns and knives. Used a 2L soda bottle and muriatic acid (readily available from pool chemicals) and aluminum foil.
Put it all together, put the cap on tight, and duct taped it to a cinder block. Tied a rope on the block and chucked it into the Econlochatchee River, hoping to see an underwater explosion.
Many minutes go by and we’re waiting…waiting…waiting. Memory says like 10-15 minutes go by with nothing. We’re all sitting around bored, thinking we’ve got a dud somehow.
Next thing we know the damn thing floats to the surface, fat and swollen, the plastic all white and stretched. The 2L bottle was the size of a 5 galling office water jug.
We all run for cover, freaking out. Diving and taking cover behind trees and logs. To our surprise ANOTHER five minutes or so go by with nothing. Just the bottle getting bigger, all white with expanding rage.
The only logical thing to do was shoot at it. So everyone takes aim and we start plinking away from maybe 30-40 yards. Miss. Miss. Miss. miss. Miss. Miss.
Then, BLAM!!! Someone connected and that damn thing exploded. I’m pretty sure the USGS registered it on their earthquake machines. They probably wrote it off since it was Florida and there’s no supposed to be earthquakes there. Last I checked, the sound was still reverberating around the globe some 25 years later. It was loud.
That is all I have to say about that.