Jim Minnich:  

The Big Bang At SF-HS 1958 was quite an explosive year at Spring-Ford High School. There was the creation of our school’s constitution and the formal debates that took place between Bill Spencer and Larry Sager for President of the class of 1963. It was also the year that we almost did not graduate because of a cheating scandal during our final exams. However, I think the most explosive event during that year took place in Mr. Evans’ chemistry lab. As seniors, we had an open period during which time we could obtain extra credit for participation in extended studies (at least I think that was what it was called). Since I was going to be majoring in chemistry at Ursinus in the fall, I thought it would be great to perform some experiments outside the normal chemistry class curriculum. At the time the whole country had become obsessed with rocketry following the successful launching of Sputnik by the Soviet Union. Everyone, it seemed, was building some kind of rocket device to be launched in backyards and open farm fields. I also succumbed to the thrill of building and launching a rocket on our thirty acre farm in Limerick. I had devised the idea of welding together two empty grapefruit juice containers, forming a nose cone out of tin, and constructing a fire box underneath to facilitate the launching of this device. For fuel, I had devised two small containers from smaller juice cans to be welded inside the main structure with tubing leading from them to the combustion chamber below. I had also devised two spigots that would regulate the flow of fuel for combustion. Now the exciting part – determining what to use for fuel. In the beginning of the year we had learned about various tools that used chemicals. One such tool that caught my attention was the oxy-acetylene torch. It didn’t mean much to me at the time, but by the end of the year we had begun learning about hydro carbons – how to create them and how to test them. Each hydro-carbon that we created in the classroom was tested with a lit wood splint to determine the amount of carbon that resulted from the extraction process. Some hydro-carbons shone brightly while others were very smokey. So, here we are in this special class. Six of my classmates had signed up for this extra credit class. This one particular day I had decided that I would like to test the flame that might be created by passing the lit wood splint over a bea...Expand for more