Vinegar Grenade

You can probably find all of the materials for this simple project in your house. When you make one of these and throw it in the air, it will explode mid-flight. The principle of this project is the same as the dry ice bomb (squeezing too much gas into too small a container). Carbon dioxide gas forms as the result of a chemical reaction between the vinegar and baking soda. This project is safer than the dry ice bombs because the explosion is much weaker, but you should still be careful and avoid getting the chemicals near your face.

vinegar grenade instructions: baking soda, canister, vinegar

danger level

  • negligible
  • moderate
  • high
  • do not do this

tools

  • (None)

materials

  • A. Bottle of vinegar
  • B. Film canister
  • C. Plastic bottle cap
  • D. Baking soda

how-to

  1. Make sure that the bottle cap you have will slide into the film canister. It should slide down freely, but be large enough that it can not flip over sideways while inside the film can.
  2. Fill the film canister about 1/4 full with vinegar.
  3. Fill the bottle cap with baking soda. Keeping the open end of the cap facing upwards, insert it into the film canister and let it float on the vinegar. The purpose of the bottle cap is to keep the vinegar and baking soda seperate until you’re ready to throw the grenade.
  4. Carefully close the film canister so the vinegar doesn’t splash around. (It may be easiest to set it on a flat surface.)
  5. Give the grenade a solid toss. As the grenade tumbles, the vinegar will slosh around and mix with the baking soda, quickly creating enough carbon dioxide gas to pop open the film can.

77 Comments:

  1. Sep 5, 2006 | 9:32 am

    John wrote:

    Here’s an idea, instead of using a separate cap to hold the baking soda. if you wet the baking soda with a little water to make a thick paste, you can fill the depression inside the cover of the film canister with the baking soda. you do need the white canisters like in your illustration, but they work wonderfully.

  2. Jan 30, 2007 | 2:56 am

    Tony wrote:

    For more fun, add some smelly stuff to the mixture.

  3. Jan 31, 2007 | 8:33 pm

    Mikie wrote:

    What about adding some food coloring to the vinegar for some colorfully staining explosions?

  4. Feb 20, 2007 | 5:44 am

    From Your Greatest Fan wrote:

    Dude this is the best one I’ve seen and easy to make, I made all of them. But this is da bomb yo.

  5. Feb 21, 2007 | 1:10 pm

    War Kid wrote:

    I wanna make one of these but I wanna know if the film container explodes..

  6. Feb 21, 2007 | 1:12 pm

    Dangerously Fun wrote:

    @War Kid:
    The canister doesn’t break - the cap just pops off.

  7. Feb 21, 2007 | 4:35 pm

    Balu wrote:

    So you are the guy responsible for global warming?

    Stop producing CO2 in such a big scale, dudes! ;-)

  8. Mar 10, 2007 | 10:35 pm

    cool guy wrote:

    i did an experiment on this at school with different amounts of canister on top of each other. it was cool!!

  9. Mar 13, 2007 | 6:30 pm

    Anonymous wrote:

    you can use alka seltzer too

  10. Mar 16, 2007 | 1:17 am

    anon wrote:

    reminds me of when i used to work on the stock crew at a supermarket.. we had wars in the back room: i used to shake up soda cans, slash them with my box cutter, and throw them spinning through the air like great fizzing grenades.. wish i had thought of this back then.

  11. Mar 17, 2007 | 2:53 pm

    chuck wrote:

    fizzing soda gernades are way cooler than this ;) And they are alot harder to guess their ‘trajectory’

  12. Mar 20, 2007 | 9:30 am

    IMReader wrote:

    Has anyone tried to secure the lid and make the canister break?

  13. Mar 24, 2007 | 12:23 pm

    beginner wrote:

    dis is a great idea for a beginner,Thank you.

  14. Mar 28, 2007 | 12:07 am

    Yuvizela wrote:

    i did this just i did a bigger one instead of the fim canister i used a fish food can (some have lil lids like the caisters) the hard part bout it was finding a cap to put bakeing soda in but it worked out i used a gadorade cap.

    made a big mess lol blamed on………….the dog X_x j/k

  15. Mar 28, 2007 | 2:13 am

    Bdev wrote:

    if you want to secure the top and make the canister explode, buy the film canisters with screw on lids. dunno how rare they are in other places, but they are easy to find where i live. for really good, mess, and staining action, get ahold of a plastic connical flash and a cork. add the viniger and bakingsoda but drop in some red food dye before the shake. aim and have fun

  16. Mar 28, 2007 | 5:34 pm

    a person wrote:

    i did this with a soda bottle cap upside-down inside the canister instead of using the regular lid, and then when it blew up, the cap when flying through the air and stuff… :)

  17. Apr 1, 2007 | 9:21 pm

    PyroPenguin wrote:

    I used to do this, but I would place a piece of tape halfway down the film canister to make a little shelf (kind of forming a U shape with the two sides of the U adhered to the sides of the cannister and the bottom spanning the diameter of the cannister). Below the tape shelf I poured the vinegar, and above it I rested baking soda wrapped in some tissue paper. The tissue paper worked perfectly as a time-delay because it would take a few seconds for the vinegar to permeate the paper and reach the baking soda. I also used to play with these outside, and then when my Dad noticed the series of brown spots on the lawn where the acidic mixture had killed the grass he wasn’t too happy with my awesome grenades.

  18. Apr 6, 2007 | 12:47 am

    weaponx212002 wrote:

    instead of vinergar and baking soda, you can use diet coke n mentos. but u really wont have time to thorw it i think. give it a try someone n let me know.

  19. Apr 11, 2007 | 6:36 pm

    mostwanted wrote:

    for a bigger bomb use a water bottle, tissue paper,vinegar,baking soda,and clear tape.Fill up the empty water bottle about 75% full with vinegar then take the tissue paper and lay it flat and put about 4 table spoons of baking soda in the middle and roll it up and cover it all with clear tape exept for one small dot about the size of a pencil eraser. when u want to use ur grenade poke a hole in the packet of baking soda on the uncovered spot completly open the spot up and quickly put into the bottle screw on the cap, shake the bottle until u feel the bottle getting hard then throw it against a solid hard flat surface that u dont care about.

  20. Apr 15, 2007 | 6:24 pm

    frahs wrote:

    this would be awsome to make a “grenade launcher” build a vinegar grenade, take a small pvc pipe, put something to clog it in the middle, slide the grenade down the tube (face down) aim, and wait.

  21. Apr 17, 2007 | 12:01 pm

    matt wrote:

    When i was young i used to make rockets and mortars using vinager and baking soda. Take a bottle, plastic not glass, cause if it explodes or the cork gets stuck. If u want to i used to add a string to the cork so i could see how high and quickly it flew. The cork would go up to 100m.

  22. Apr 17, 2007 | 4:42 pm

    jiggy wrote:

    If you want a colourful explosion stick a few paintballs inside it. Now, in the case of a large soda can there is plenty of room for paint. However, this ,of course, is all in theory.

  23. Apr 25, 2007 | 6:24 pm

    Frenchay wrote:

    A film canister lol. people still have those? i havent seen one in a while.. Woo digital

  24. Apr 28, 2007 | 1:25 am

    lala wrote:

    where can you find film canisters now???

  25. Apr 30, 2007 | 9:23 am

    chijian wrote:

    lala wrote:
    where can you find film canisters now???

    i think you can use anything,just coca bottle,but it will not as good

  26. May 9, 2007 | 8:38 am

    David wrote:

    i once stuck a two leater pop bottle(empty)on a rolerskate and filed it 75% of the way up with vinigar andcarved a hole in a cork and filed it with baking soda then put the stuf i took out of the cork in a circle and poked a nedil trough and put a string in and pluged the hole in the cork so when the vinigar soaked up the string booom and the cork goes flying

  27. May 9, 2007 | 2:01 pm

    Mushroom wrote:

    Since it’s hard to seal the film canister well, I suggest using those half pint Poland Spring bottles. Add 1/3 the bottle of vinegar and wrap a reasonable amount of baking soda in plastic wrap so it will fit in the bottle. Put the wrap in the bottle, go out side and shake ALOT. Slam with all your might the bottle onto the pavement or hard surface (NOT IN YOUR HOUSE) and BOOM. =] Film canisters really sucked.

  28. May 11, 2007 | 7:09 pm

    some1 wrote:

    what a great experiment i hope you continue doing this kind of things ;)

  29. May 14, 2007 | 11:32 am

    tacos wrote:

    i tried it with balsamic vingegar and it worked out better…

  30. May 16, 2007 | 4:25 pm

    wackoscmacko wrote:

    what kind of bottle caps do u use ive tried heaps but they are all to big, could u suggest anything?

  31. May 22, 2007 | 6:01 am

    Mushroom wrote:

    Mr. creative name, like i stated b4, the film canisters really aren’t an explosion. They are more of a little “Pop”! If you want a BOOM, Do what i said. Get a small Poland spring water bottle, fill it about 1/3 with vinegar, wrap baking soda in plastic wrap, put the baking soda in the bottle, and cap, shake, and throw.

  32. May 28, 2007 | 11:07 am

    Anonymous wrote:

    That doesn’t deserve moderate, I did this when I was 5.

  33. May 28, 2007 | 7:32 pm

    coolkid wrote:

    k the better thing to do is u take a water bottle, dry 1, then u fill it up 1/4 of the way full and the u put kleenex in it till u get the kleenex to get in it and be dry. Then u take some baking soda and pour it on top of the dry kleenex, when u r ready u screw on the cap and shake it, then throw it up high in the air and wait for the giant explosion and boom. make sure the cap is on tight!!!

  34. May 29, 2007 | 6:31 pm

    Mushroom wrote:

    Mr. Cool kid, thats kinda what ive been getting at for the last posts… Except the ammount of kleenex tissues you need for the baking soda to be dry, clogs the hole, or is generally a big waste of kleenex tissues. A thin layer of plastic wrap about 4″ by 8″ gets the job done. One Layer too!

  35. Jun 2, 2007 | 1:15 pm

    Dot Head wrote:

    for more fun. make a vinegar cannon. take an empty water bottle and fill 1/4 with vinegar. then fill a file canister with baking soda. quickly dump the baking soda into the water bottle and have someone to twist on the cap. drop the bottle. it will expand. now you need to hold the bottle with your foot. then carefully with the other foot. work off the cap with 2 strokes. then kick off the cap with one big kick. it will shoot the cap and foamy mixture. also you can fill the bottle with airsoft bb’s or a small paintball.

  36. Jun 3, 2007 | 2:16 am

    DJ wrote:

    I havent tried it, but for a larger bomb what if you put in baking powder then poured something like wax on it to make a seal and then put the vinegar on top, it would give you time to put on a secure lid, then simply break the wax barrier..

  37. Jun 3, 2007 | 6:09 pm

    dan wrote:

    oh.. and it may take 2 seconds to 500 seconds for effect to work… SO BE CAREFUL AND DON”T BE STOOPID!

  38. Jun 17, 2007 | 11:20 am

    Ved wrote:

    Instead of using a film cannister, a container of efferalgan medicine can be used, it has the same dimension as the film cannister and its cap is quite an airtight one,
    Thanks
    Its really cool!!!

  39. Jun 19, 2007 | 11:11 am

    supriya wrote:

    whoa … thats how we create volcano models at school

  40. Jun 22, 2007 | 8:35 pm

    new guy wrote:

    I think it’s better when you do it in a plastic bottle.

  41. Jun 26, 2007 | 2:06 pm

    Ross wrote:

    does it have to be a film canister or can i make it any cylinder shape? thanks

  42. Jun 26, 2007 | 5:09 pm

    moonrakerone wrote:

    i go to walgreens for the film canisters, they will give you as many as you want if you say its for a school project

  43. Jun 29, 2007 | 8:27 pm

    Anonymous Dave wrote:

    If u super glue the top of the film case on then put masking tape on the side the film case will explode

  44. Jun 30, 2007 | 8:05 am

    I heart explosives wrote:

    When you do the water bottle idea once it gets hard can you shoot it with a bb gun will the sudden hit cause it to explode. Any comments will help.

    Also other household items that explode

  45. Jul 18, 2007 | 9:32 pm

    DuskyNinja wrote:

    Here’s an idea that someone might me able to build off.. After u make the soda/water paste you can roll it into a ball and put in the microwave for a min or two and the ball will dry into a solid brick. Mite make the soda a little easier to work with. Hope this helped someone!

  46. Jul 20, 2007 | 5:24 pm

    Lol wrote:

    Get a 500ml water bottle and put a bunch of baking soda in a platic bagie inside with funnel, then fill about half the bottle with vinegar around it cuz the soda floats, then when the compression is highe from rolling it across the lawn or something, get lysol and spray down the bottle alot, then get anything that will burn towards it (string with lysol or w.e on it) then make sure it can come in contact with the bottle, light it and it makes a VERY loud bang, we got dogs barking and lights turning on car alarms you name it, so much fun, just stay FAR AWAY sometimes there can be shrapnal from the bottle but its normally not very much.

  47. Jul 21, 2007 | 11:17 pm

    airsoftsniper247 wrote:

    ok im in to airsoft and I thought hmmmmmm maybe if I pu the veniger and baking soda with bbs in a water bottle it will blow up. wrong didnt work at all all of the bbs stayed in the bottle. so if you want to make an airsoft grenade put in a ziplock bag.

  48. Jul 25, 2007 | 9:03 am

    da bomb wrote:

    heres an awesome grenade recipe!!! get a 2 liter bottle white distilled vineger a paper towel baking soda fill bottle quarter full with vineger put any amount of baking soda in paper towel wrap paper towel into pencil shape drop it in bottle throw it up…….get away it will sound like a gun!!!!!

  49. Aug 1, 2007 | 1:55 am

    weiping2007 wrote:

    your idea is very good but the grenade must be throw very quickly and if i store the vinegar grenade for a long time until i need to use it,how?

  50. Aug 1, 2007 | 2:31 pm

    cynori and im 12 wrote:

    try coke instead of vinigar and crush up some mentose and put it in she water botle lid

  51. Sep 14, 2007 | 10:42 pm

    Old Dude wrote:

    We used to do this as kids too, but we’d put a little pile of baking soda in the center of a piece of toilet paper, then wrap it up and twist it shut. We’d then screw the cap on a bottle or stuff a cork in so that the twisted part of the baking soda bundle was held inside the bottle, near the top-where there is no vinegar. When you want to pop the container, shoot the cork, whatever, you just tilt the bottle so the toilet paper dissolves in the vinegar.

  52. Oct 7, 2007 | 2:34 pm

    Too Hip wrote:

    In 1965 my uncle gave me a plastic toy ‘rocket’ that was propelled by vinegar and baking soda. It was a blast then and with film canisters or anything else you can conjure up, it is still a heck of a lot of fun! Pay heed to those that speak of safety. It only takes that one time……..

  53. Oct 21, 2007 | 7:48 pm

    Spartan7117 wrote:

    You can make a film canister fly if u do these simple instructions
    1)get a film canister lol
    2)fill the canister 1/2 way with water
    3)poke a hole in the cap of the film canister
    4)Put a antiacid inside the film canister
    5)Put it upside down fast on a flat surface
    And there u go *Caution* dont shoot at people it really hurts

  54. Nov 23, 2007 | 1:48 pm

    Jeremy wrote:

    This is awesome! I always do this, but today I wasnt paying much attention to what was going on and I started doing it inside by my brothers and they were pushing the table around and the baking soda mixed in with the vinager fast before i could put the cap on and it exploded in all our faces… lol

  55. Dec 5, 2007 | 1:45 pm

    Dangerous and fun wrote:

    u can also use lemmon juice insteated of vinegar: both are acids

  56. Jan 23, 2008 | 8:05 pm

    Anonymous wrote:

    Less vinegar, and more are means bigger explosion. Air is a compressible fluid so it can store energy. Vinegar is not. Yes air is a fluid.

  57. Feb 15, 2008 | 7:45 pm

    tim wrote:

    im gona like have a full on war with these things

  58. Feb 18, 2008 | 8:24 pm

    DUCTTAPE wrote:

    use red food coloring to make it look cool when it “explodes”

  59. Feb 20, 2008 | 7:11 pm

    king wrote:

    hey u guys, i tied it to a model rocket and it was great. the rocket engine wasn’t that powerful so when it got to maximum altitude it popped and sent the rocket flying even higher. It was awsome! you should try it.

  60. Feb 23, 2008 | 10:01 pm

    Matthew wrote:

    Me, my best friend, and his brother tried doing this with 20oz mountain dew bottles quick and dirty style, but they would never blow up on their own. Like idiots, we sat them out on their ball court and tried shooting them with our bb guns to get them to explode, then best friend’s brother got a freakin stick and thought it would be awesome to “play golf” with it. It was standing upright, he was standing right over it, and as soon as he brought the stick back to smack it, the lid blew off and knocked his baseball cap off his head and there was a massive 30 foot geyser-canopy of vinegar that soaked him outright. Vinegar-fizzed in the face; he was so shocked he didn’t move until a few seconds after all the projectile vinegar fizz landeded.

  61. Feb 29, 2008 | 12:39 pm

    yoyoyo wrote:

    you can put some viniger in a cola bottle as well then som baking soda put the lid on shake it up and thro ( i did it and the whole thing exploded and i couldent find any of it

  62. Mar 22, 2008 | 9:22 am

    opticaly wrote:

    if you were to wrap duck tape around the grenade so the sticky side is facing outwords it sticks to stuff then blows up.
    it’s cool

  63. May 11, 2008 | 3:58 pm

    sandman wrote:

    I came up with the same idea by my self and it was a lot better and more bigger scale.
    What I did was put vinegar in a water bottle and then put a plastic bag in the bottle and put baking soda in the bag then took a knife and cut holes in the bag and then tighten the cap and shook it then rolled it and 5 to 15 sec. later it went boom and blew a hole though the cap and a hole though the bottom. p.s. It also works with a power aid bottle.
    p.s.s to make a air soft grenade just add bb’s to the vinegar and baking soda.

  64. May 17, 2008 | 10:59 am

    silencethesniper wrote:

    today i was amking a large scale 1 of these and i took a 3 liter bottle & since i had used up all the white normal vinegar i poured in lemon juice red wine vinegar balsmaic vinegar & just the little bit of white vinegar i had left, then i poured in baking soda and quickly screwed the cap on. like anonymous said air is a compresable liquid, so i left alot in. then i let it sit for a few seconds, then i stuck my foot ontop of it, slowly rolled the cap lose, then with one ginormous kick i kicked the top off expecting it to fly far, instead it back fired and the bottle flew back at like 100 mph, and since i was right in fron of my garage, it put a dent in it about 5-6 inchs deep. scared the hell outa me! but it was fun!!!

  65. May 17, 2008 | 12:47 pm

    TheHobo wrote:

    Awesome, i shot it with a nerf gun it fell then exploded!

  66. Jun 25, 2008 | 11:51 am

    fashfiji wrote:

    i don’t have bakeing soda :*^(

  67. Jun 25, 2008 | 10:47 pm

    me wrote:

    i made 1 out of 5 kinds of vinegar inside of a reg. water bottle and it exploded louder than a shotgun. i had to shoot it w/ a high power pellet gun to make it explode though.

  68. Jun 28, 2008 | 11:49 am

    wazzzuuuppp wrote:

    if you get bored of this fill a empty water bottle 1/3 of the way with baking soda, then fill a small sandwich bag (dont seal) with some vinegar, then quickly put the cap on, shake up until its tense. then throw it… it actually explodes

  69. Jun 30, 2008 | 10:08 am

    fire man wrote:

    a bit of super glue around the rim of the canister has cool results. =)

  70. Jun 30, 2008 | 12:05 pm

    Brenden wrote:

    If I put this in a water bottle, would it explode (close the cap)

  71. Jul 3, 2008 | 3:25 pm

    EVAN wrote:

    HEY!!!!!! if you put 10 tin foil balls in a bottle the got some cleaner called “the works” then fill the bottle up so it covers the balls up then close the bottle and shake it and throw it far and get away and it explodes louder than a gun shot

  72. Jul 4, 2008 | 3:44 am

    Mike wrote:

    You can also make a watertight tin foil package filled with making soda …and make sort of a timebomb …just get a strong bottle. ..preferably glass. .fill it with vinegar ..drop the package in . .and plug. .and run. The acetic acid will burn thru the foil and react with the baking soda.

  73. Jul 7, 2008 | 1:37 pm

    Vininator wrote:

    I can’t find any bottle caps that fit in the canister. I have tried bottle caps from coke and water bottles. any better ones to try?

  74. Jul 9, 2008 | 10:02 pm

    Poopsucker wrote:

    to vininator,
    try the top of those things you get out of those quarter machines at grocery stores with the stupid little toys in them

  75. Jul 14, 2008 | 4:25 am

    mysterious_guy wrote:

    thanks for the informationssss!!!!!
    now i have many ideas about my chemistry tricksss
    thanksss guyzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

  76. Jul 16, 2008 | 2:44 am

    mc man wrote:

    dos it go bang ???????”
    -

  77. Jul 16, 2008 | 10:40 am

    woops wrote:

    If you guys just want a boom, Take some dry ice, two liter bottles, hot water, and a hammer. You may want a tray and a nice thick glove.

    Break the dry ice into tiny little pieces with the hammer (best way ive found, put a plastic bag over the dry ice in a tray and beat it with the hammer).

    Put the pieces into what ever plastic bottles you have. right at abt 1/4 does more then enough. Pour hot water in the bottle and cap it. Throw it as it expands. The more ice thats in there the longer it takes.

    BOOM

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