1. Home
  2. Education
  3. Chemistry
photo of Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.

Anne Marie's Chemistry Blog

By Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D., About.com Guide to Chemistry since 2001

Green Fire Flaming Jack-o-Lantern

Friday October 3, 2008
Green Fire Flaming Jack-o-Lantern (Anne Helmenstine)

One application of green fire is using it to light your Halloween jack-o-lantern. This works best if you line the inside of your jack-o-lantern with a sheet of aluminum foil and use it as a sort of bowl to hold the green fire. I went a little... um... overboard with my fire and ended up cooking my pumpkin. I made a quick video, which does not show my minor yard fire. Don't ever add more alcohol to your pumpkin when there is still some flame...

On a side note, boric acid is effective at killing fire ants. I chose an ant hill as the site for my Halloween decoration. Fire actually isn't good for getting rid of the ants, since all it does is drive them underground and may lead to them relocating their mound. I hope all the ants in the yard are out enjoying a nice piece of boric-acid laced pumpkin.

Comments

No comments yet. Leave a Comment

Leave a Comment

Line and paragraph breaks are automatic. Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title="">, <b>, <i>, <strike>

Explore Chemistry

About.com Special Features

A Smarter Future

Tips that will help finance your education, excel in the classroom, and advance your career. More >

How to Ace the GRE

Being well prepared is the first step; here are more essential suggestions. More >

  1. Home
  2. Education
  3. Chemistry

©2009 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company.

All rights reserved.