Smoking Halloween pumpkin

How to make a pumpkin smoke

This new video stars an evil pump­kin!

Safe­ty pre­cau­tions

Only un­der adult su­per­vi­sion.

Equip­ment and reagents

  • alu­minum can;
  • carved pump­kin;
  • glyc­erol;
  • can­dles.

Step-by-step in­struc­tions

Make a va­por­iz­er out of an alu­minum can. Ar­range some can­dles and the va­por­iz­er in a carved pump­kin. Drip some glyc­erol onto the can. You’ll re­lease thick clouds of glyc­erol smoke!

Pro­cess­ de­scrip­tion

Glyc­erol is a tri­hy­dric al­co­hol with the for­mu­la C₃H₅(OH)₃. It is a vis­cous, col­or­less, sweet-tast­ing liq­uid. It is used as a food ad­di­tive, la­beled E422. Glyc­erol is also used in many cos­met­ics. A mix­ture of glyc­erol and wa­ter is used in the film in­dus­try to cre­ate a smoky en­vi­ron­ment – the same prop­er­ty of glyc­erol that was ex­ploit­ed in this video. In the pump­kin, the glyc­erol heats up on the alu­minum can and be­gins to evap­o­rate, form­ing thick clouds of smoke.

Isn't that cool? Per­form your own su­per-cool ex­per­i­ments with a MEL Chem­istry sub­scrip­tion!

Try it