Well...
I made bombs...
Nitroglycerin made in chemistry class. Made more smoke than boom... The nitric acid condenser hoses disintegrated while making it...
Pipe bombs with black powder and silver powder (I don't remember what the silver powder's actual name was, it was like black powder but
was very fine with a silver sheen and burned much faster). I think firecrackers are made with it.
Gas bombs in balloons and other containers (ether, hydrogen, acetylene, propane, oxygen). Made my own hydrogen using water and electrolysis. Well mixed acetylene and oxygen in balloons makes a pretty big bang. About as loud as a large caliber hand gun...
Numerous rockets...
Tennis ball cannons using lighter's fluid... They would launch a tennis ball a LONG ways...
Flame throwers...
Made all kinds of dangerous things...
Nobody died or even lost and eye...
Had missing eyebrows from time to time...
One of the benefits of growing up in the hills...
And my thing is electronics...
Redneck 101... Blowin sh*t up... Its fun.
Done much the same my whole life, and still do when I can. If a buddy of mine calls up with a stump to blow, of course I am coming along.
Your balloons were a thing I did too - a spectacular failure. Epic.
We were messin with acetylene balloons, combined with helium balloons to hoist em...
The first malfunction was a static charge - Someone brushed up against a garbage bag full of acetylene laying on the ground and the static lit it off somehow... Should have stopped there with everybody bleeding out their ears... But no....
four helium balloons lifting an acetylene balloon (lawn size bags)... The fuse was the string, run through a light oil, then squeezed to get most of the oil out, then run through black powder, all done as the balloons lifted skyward... A remarkable bit of engineering to do that....
Once we ran out of string, we lit it off, and all went according to hoyle, producing an epic explosion high in the air, seen all the way across the valley... Brilliant fire high in the night sky. Magnificent.
Except for one rather small miscalculation... What would happen when a quarter mile of burning string fell earthward on a hot august night... Turned out to be quite a bit of work for 25 really drunk guys, a couple fire departments and the county deputies to put out.
Good times.