History Main / EducationThroughPyrotechnics

* ''Anime/RanmaOneHalf'' does this, in early Season 1, right near the time Ryoga enters the scene. The Chem Club students want to get their hands on Akane and decide to make bombs, which they of course accidentally set off in the chemistry lab (and wind up setting off accidentally during the battle when the mines fail to go off during Ranma/Ryoga's fight).

* This is more or less a part of Franchise/SpiderMan's origin. He attended a seminar on radioactive energy. The machines used produced a beam of radiowaves between two generators. The generators were not separated from the public, nor were they sealed off to avoid a random spider falling into the beam and biting a certain Peter Parker. In later retellings, an explosion occurred.
* In ''ComicBook/Superboy1994'' Robert Lai caused an explosion during a High School chemistry class, though he evidently was not following directions at all since he ended up in detention for it.

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

[[folder:Anime]]

* ''Anime/RanmaOneHalf'' does this, in early Season 1, right near the time Ryoga enters the scene. The Chem Club students want to get their hands on Akane and decide to make bombs, which they of course accidentally set off in the chemistry lab (and wind up setting off accidentally during the battle when the mines fail to go off during Ranma/Ryoga's fight).

* ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'': Professor Daitokouji/Banner blew himself up at least once. His specific class is left hard to determine, as is ''every'' teacher's on that show, but appears to be alchemy (also his side job).
** It is alchemy. When he was absent, Professor Chronos/Crowler took over and blew himself up as well.
* In ''Anime/FutariWaPrettyCure'', explosions seem to be a normal side effect of Honoka's experiments, as demonstrated twice in the first two episodes. And in her ''dreams.'' ''And in the intro.''

* In ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'', Miyako (Yolei) triggers an explosion that leaves her with an AshFace.

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'': A common situation at Riverdale High.
* ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}''. Happens twice in "Recap/TintinLandOfBlackGold". An oil executive is telling Tintin that he's confident his team of scientists will find the answer as to why petrol is exploding without cause, when one of them rings to report failure. Oh and if they want him to continue, they'll have to build a new lab! In the end Professor Calculus finds the answer, but only after destroying a large part of Marlinspike Hall, much to Captain Haddock's outrage.
* This is more or less a part of Franchise/SpiderMan's origin. He attended a seminar on radioactive energy. The machines used produced a beam of radiowaves between two generators. The generators were not separated from the public, nor were they sealed off to avoid a random spider falling into the beam and biting a certain Peter Parker. In later retellings, an explosion occured.

[[folder:FanWorks ]]

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' of Creator/AAPessimal, Ankh-Morpork's Guild of Assassins School now teaches courses like Applied Exothermic Alchemy, Deployment of Devices, and Bomb Disposal. (how to dispose a bomb so it does exactly what you want it to with regard to the selected target). Teaching staff are not above casually lobbing a Device at a group of students as a sort of practical test of quick hazard recognition, and quick reflexes.

[[folder:Film]]

-->'''Chesterson:''' Bavistock, I've got a bone to pick with you! I tried to reproduce that experiment of yours in last month's ''Scientific American''. It blew the roof off my frigging garage!
-->'''Fake Bavistock:''' Well... maybe you didn't understand the article!
-->'''Chesterson:''' And maybe...''your design is horseshit!''
* Unintentionally done by the teacher in ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory''.
* The original ''Film/TheNuttyProfessor1963'' opens with Professor Kelp blowing up his classroom.
* Towards the beginning of ''Film/WhereAngelsGoTroubleFollows'' the Bishop tells the Reverend Mother that he loves coming to St. Francis Academy for Girls because it is always so peaceful and tranquil. Cue loud explosion. In the next scene, the Reverend Mother and the science teacher are cleaning up the lab. The science teacher explains that she had intended to demonstrate that some common household chemicals are dangerous and should be handled with caution, and she had no idea that the girls would use the knowledge to make a bomb. "Never underestimate the Machiavellian deviousness of the adolescent mind," replies the experienced Reverend Mother.

-->'''Stark:''' Emission signature is unusual. Alpha and beta ray neutral, though I doubt Rogers picked up on that. Seems harmless enough; hard to see what all the fuss is about.
-->(''Stark zaps the fragment with electricity, at which point it explodes and hurls him across the room.'')
-->'''Stark:''' (''{{beat}}'') Write that down.
* In ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan'', Professor Connors is fighting Peter in his high school, and their battle takes them through the chemistry lab. Connors sees two bottles on the desk, picks them up and mixes them together, and hurls them after Peter before they explode like a grenade. Either the evacuation interrupted what would have been an extremely ill-advised chemistry demonstration, or their universe has some incredibly bad procedures for lab safety. Oh, right, it's the second one, that's ''why'' a [[FreakLabAccident spider/human]] and a [[ProfessorGuineaPig lizard/human]] are currently battling each other.

* ''[[Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians Percy Jackson And The Sea of Monsters]]'': Spoofed in this children's book. The WeirdnessMagnet main character goes to a relaxed, New-Agey school, and his chemistry final is literally "make something explode". Within five minutes, he and his lab partner succeed so spectacularly that the lab has to be evacuated, and the teacher praises them for their instinctive grasp of chemistry.

---> "Through the roof, sir. But I think I know what I did wrong."

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':
** In ''White Night'', Harry, under a lot of pressure and stressed to the eyeballs, gives into anger and tests [[spoiler: Molly]] by seeing whether or not she can shield herself against a slow-moving fireball. He cancels the spell once he sees she's about to break down.
** Keep in mind Harry himself admits he's not great at off the cuff magic that isn't big and violent. He'd been planning the ball of sunshine trick for awhile because Molly needed to be taken down a peg. His reaction to the stress and whatnot came a page earlier, where he liquified a metal garbage can and rained molten steel on a bunch of outfit-owned shops.
** In ''Small Favor'', Harry reveals that he and his EvilMentor, Justin [=DuMorne=], used to play catch as part of practice. With fireballs.
* The chemistry test in ''Literature/{{Murderess}}''. It requires students to mix five ingredients from an assortment of test tubes, and actually [[ParodiedTrope states in its instructions that a small explosion would cause a 10 point deduction, and a large one would cause a 40 point one]]. Lu, having no knowledge whatsoever in chemistry, randomly mixes five ingredients and causes a major explosion… which occurs, strangely enough, on [[AlphaBitch Bridget]]’s desk.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* ''Series/MythBusters'' pretty much exemplifies this trope. No episode is complete without something exploding ([[strike:for educational purposes]] ForScience, of course!). It was so popular, Discovery decided to distill the explosions into [[FollowTheLeader a new show]]--''Smash Lab.'' Too bad they forgot that the success of ''Series/MythBusters'' is due as much to the people who run it as the experiments themselves.

* ''Series/FamilyMatters'': In an AllJustADream episode, Laura dreamed that Steve Urkel built an atomic bomb for his science fair project.

* ''Series/DoctorWho''. The MeetCute between the Doctor and Jo Grant. The Doctor is singing [[TemptingFate "I don't want to set the world on fire..."]] when his equipment blows up, producing copious amounts of smoke. Jo grabs a fire extinguisher and douses the laboratory bench, only to get shouted at by the Doctor for ruining three months of work.
* ''Series/BlakesSeven''. In "The Harvest Of Kairos", Avon is poking an alien rock with a technical implement in the foreground, as the others are busy with tactical {{technobabble}}. It gives off a small explosion and they all turn to him.
--> '''Avon:''' [[OutOfCharacterMoment Sorry.]]

[[folder: Music Videos ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

* ''Webcomic/ScaryGoRound'': One of the [[http://www.scarygoround.com/index.php?date=20020604 first plot lines]] of uses this trope.
* ''Webcomic/TheWotch'' has quite a messy [[http://www.thewotch.com/?epDate=2006-03-20 science class]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** "Bart the Genius": Bart causes a classroom to fill up with green goo by mixing chemicals.
** "She Of Little Faith" had an entire beginning where Homer teaches Bart and Milhouse how to launch a model rocket -- with explosive results.
* On ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'', Past!Utonium randomly mixed chemicals while goofing around in science class and accidentally set the school on fire.

* ''WesternAnimation/TazMania'': In "The Thing That Ate the Outback", Taz creates the eponymous thing with a mail-order chemistry kit.

* Nothing explodes, but the general spirit is the same; the first lesson given by Professor Hank [=McCoy=] of ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'', knowing the general mindset of his high-school-age students, is how to make a StinkBomb.

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* A [[OhTheHumanity good example]] is demonstrated [[https://youtu.be/ti_E2ZKZpC4 HERE,]] at 19:20 in, in a public demonstration by The Royal Institution.

* [[MadeOfExplodium Nitrogen Triiodide.]] Freakin' [=NI3=]. ''Staple'' of mischievous chemistry students and show-off professors across the world. Rather powerful crystalline explosive, sensitive enough to go off when ''a big fly lands on it''. However, unlike most unstable stuff, it may be handled more or less safely upon mixing and is primed only when it dries up. Hence the popularity.
** R.W.Wood's biography (which in itself is twice more entertaining than 9/10 of "MadScientist" fiction, and half again weirder) specifically mentions his nitrogen-iodine experiments. He was already pyro-savvy, so he split it into several little piles... and when he tested first dried pinch its explosion scattering a good spoonful of almost ready touch-sensitive explosive crystals through the entire room...
** Once in Soviet times students in Voronezh University ladies' dormitory were quite annoyed by their porter due to her [[MoralGuardians habit of night patrols]]. Enter the... Chemistry students and enigmatic faint smell of ammonia rising from the corridor's floor. Next morning she was found sitting atop her stool with boots. This little experience apparently taught her something valuable about wisdom of ''not'' sharing one's insomnia with everyone around and about peaceful coexistence with bunch of crazy students in general.
* The university [[http://www.mst.edu Missouri S&T]] actually offers a [[http://mining.mst.edu/programoverview/minorexpeng.html minor in explosives.]] And they're not kidding. Seeing as how they were originally Missouri School of Mining and Engineering, or something like that, its hardly surprising.

* Purdue University professor George H. Goble won the 1996 Ig Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his world record of lighting a barbecue in 3 seconds. He did this by dumping a 3 gallon bucket of liquid oxygen on 60 pounds of coals; the resulting fireball reached 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit. For those curious to see what the fuss is about, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sab2Ltm1WcM here]] is a video, and [[http://www.ambrosiasw.com/Ambrosia_Times/September_95/2.5HowTo.html photos and an interview.]]
* Training in US Army ROTC falls under a series of courses entitled "Military Science." By the time they graduate, a cadet will have worked with [=AT4s=], Claymore mines, frag grenades and field artillery.
* The entire point of [[http://www.graysci.com/ Thomas Gray's Mad Science]]
* John D. Clark's book ''Ignition!'' is a subversion - as a longtime researcher in liquid rocket fuels, he hoped to teach future researchers to ''avoid'' explosions by mentioning what could go wrong (Teflon "eroding like sugar in hot water" when they tried chlorine trifluoride, for one) Of course, it may have had the [[SchmuckBait opposite effect]].
* A classic chemistry experiment is corroding a penny using hydrochloric acid to separate the zinc from the copper and measure its composition. One day, a substitute teacher decides to do this experiment but sees they're out of hydrochloric acid. Figuring any strong acid will work, the teacher decides to substitute nitric acid. Another strong acid would have subbed in just fine [[note]] although some, like sulfuric acid, ought to be diluted to avoid this very issue, except with sulfur oxides[[/note]], but nitric acid doesn't work because nitrate is a stronger oxidizing agent than protons are, so instead of producing hydrogen as a byproduct, it produced poisonous NO[[subscript:2]]. The school had to be evacuated.

* Occurs in several tales on ''Series/AreYouAfraidOfTheDark'': A HighSchool is haunted by the ghost of a girl who died in a lab explosion... The school {{Nerd}} defeats an evil water spirit (made of water) with manganite ("Mix water with manganite and kaboom!") and [[AndSomeOtherStuff other chemicals]] from the school lab...

* A classic chemistry experiment is corroding a penny using hydrochloric acid to separate the zinc from the copper and measure its composition. One day, a substitute teacher decides to do this experiment but sees they're out of hydrochloric acid. Figuring any strong acid will work, the teacher decides to substitute nitric acid. Any other strong acid would have subbed in just fine, but nitric acid doesn't work because nitrate is a stronger oxidizing agent than protons are, so instead of producing hydrogen as a byproduct, it produced poisonous NO[[subscript:2]]. The school had to be evacuated.

* A [[OhTheHumanity good example]] is demonstrated [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti_E2ZKZpC4&feature=player_detailpage#t=1168 HERE,]] at 19:20 in, in a public demonstration by The Royal Institution.

* On ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'', Past!Utonium randomly mixed chemicals while goofing around in science class and accidentally set the school on fire.

* ''Bullseye!'' (1990) had Roger Moore as a conman [[{{doppelganger}} posing as Bavistock]], one of two scientists who've invented a fusion reactor. [[spoiler:The scene foreshadows the ending where the scientists are revealed to be frauds themselves, and the fusion reactor they've designed blows up when UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher turns on the power at the official opening ceremony.]]

* Towards the beginning of ''Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows'' the Bishop tells the Reverend Mother that he loves coming to St. Francis Academy for Girls because it is always so peaceful and tranquil. Cue loud explosion. In the next scene, the Reverend Mother and the science teacher are cleaning up the lab. The science teacher explains that she had intended to demonstrate that some common household chemicals are dangerous and should be handled with caution, and she had no idea that the girls would use the knowledge to make a bomb. "Never underestimate the Machiavellian deviousness of the adolescent mind," replies the experienced Reverend Mother.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/archie_lab_9.png]]

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/ArchieComics https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/archie_lab.png]]]]

* Satomi Hakase in ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' has done this at least once, exactly as the main group were entering her lab. Naturally done for humour with everyone only a [[NonFatalExplosions bit blackened with a few hairs out of place]].

[[folder: Web Comics ]]

* ''TheSimpsons'':

* ''Franchise/ArchieComics'': A common situation at Riverdale High.

This is not in the least helped by the teachers, as this is a popular position for the [[TheProfessor Professor]] or MadScientist. Often they have left a university or a private research institution, possibly through the roof. Compare DisastrousDemonstration.

This is not in the least helped by the teachers, as this is a popular position for the [[TheProfessor Professor]] or MadScientist. Often they have left a university or a private research institution, possibly through the roof. Compare DisastrousDemonstration

This is not in the least helped by the teachers, as this is a popular position for the [[TheProfessor Professor]] or MadScientist. Often they have left a university or a private research institution, possibly through the roof.

--> --'''Anon'''

* This is more or less a part of SpiderMan's origin. He attended a seminar on radioactive energy. The machines used produced a beam of radiowaves between two generators. The generators were not separated from the public, nor were they sealed off to avoid a random spider falling into the beam and biting a certain Peter Parker. In later retellings, an explosion occured.

* In the ''{{Discworld}}'' of Creator/AAPessimal, Ankh-Morpork's Guild of Assassins School now teaches courses like Applied Exothermic Alchemy, Deployment of Devices, and Bomb Disposal. (how to dispose a bomb so it does exactly what you want it to with regard to the selected target). Teaching staff are not above casually lobbing a Device at a group of students as a sort of practical test of quick hazard recognition, and quick reflexes.