2 melting snowmen with fire | 12 Explosions of Christmas with Greg Foot | Head Squeeze

To see Greg and Mike's full '12 Explosions of Christmas' bonanza here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIlji543PJw

In our penultimate explanation behind the 12 Explosions of Christmas, Greg and Mike have created an elaborate way of keeping warm... it was a cold night!

Their elf in the workshop, Tom, built two snowmen out of chicken wire and cotton wool -- complete with top hats!

Then Mike concocted a solution of white phosphorus dissolved in carbon disulfide, and he and Greg (carefully!) poured the solution onto the snowmen. Mike thinks we all know what happens when white phosphorus comes into conduct with air, but Head Squeeze HQ thinks it's a lesser known fact that white phosphorous spontaneously combusts!

After about eight minutes, the elves' two snowmen went up in flames as the carbon disulfide evaporated and the white phosphorus combusted in the air.

Now warm and toasty Greg and Mike started plotting for the big finale of the 12 Explosions of Christmas. Make sure you hit SUBSCRIBE so it appears in your YouTube home feed when you log in.

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Tell us what you think of Greg & Mike's '12 Explosions of Christmas', use #12ExplosionsofXmas on G+ and Twitter.

Greg Foot is a Science Presenter on TV, Online & at Live Events, and a Wellcome Trust Engagement Fellow. For more science daredevil mayhem follow Greg here: https://twitter.com/gregfoot

Mike Sansom is a fireworks and explosive pro and runs BrightFire Pyrotechnics. For more from Mike & his explosive elves follow: https://twitter.com/ brightfirepyro

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