“Fire-breathing bottle” experiment

A sim­ple and im­pres­sive ex­per­i­ment which shows the com­bus­tion of ethyl al­co­hol fumes with a sound ac­com­pa­ni­ment!

Warn­ing! Ob­serve safe­ty rules when work­ing with fire

Reagents and equip­ment:

• plas­tic bot­tle (18 l);
• ethyl al­co­hol (100 ml);
• match­es.

Step-by-step in­struc­tions

We pour 100 ml of ethyl al­co­hol into the bot­tle, so it cov­ers the bot­tom. Then we close it and shake it vig­or­ous­ly so that the al­co­hol evap­o­rates bet­ter. We open the bot­tle and ig­nite the fumes. The flame quick­ly spreads through the en­tire bot­tle. There is also a loud noise.

Pro­cess­es de­scrip­tion

Ethyl al­co­hol is a monoatom­ic al­co­hol. Un­der stan­dard con­di­tions, it is a volatile flammable liq­uid. When the al­co­hol is burnt, heat is re­leased, which ex­pands the air in the bot­tle, and it par­tial­ly leaves it. Re­duced pres­sure is cre­at­ed in the bot­tle. The air, as it re­plen­ish­es its vol­ume, is sucked into the bot­tle, and a noise is heard re­sem­bling the “roar” of a real drag­on! Sim­i­lar ex­per­i­ment is in­clud­ed in the MEL Chem­istry sub­scrip­tion: Fire Bot­tle.

Safe­ty pre­cau­tions

This ex­per­i­ment must be con­duct­ed with pro­tec­tive gloves and glass­es in a well-ven­ti­lat­ed room. Safe­ty rules in work­ing with fire and flammable liq­uids must be ob­served.