Playing with fire | Head Squeeze

James May reminisces about his misspent youth playing with matches and debates the merits of using foam to put out flames from petrol.
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Taken from James May Q&A Extras (Ep36).
Welcome to BBC Earth Science! Here we answer all your curious questions about science in the world around you. If there’s a question you have that we haven’t yet answered let us know in the comments on any of our videos and it could be answered by one of our Earth Science experts.

[@niko7583]

I really love that James does this stuff. It brings him more down to earth than Jeremy or Hamster

[@kittenkra3y]

Wicked!! That was real and felt like a chat between friends. I wish I had more friends who could sprout interesting science like that!

[@WickedEngineer]

most brilliant person on the tv ever

[@bigboam]

I could listen to him go on all day...

[@sjwimmel]

There's a really cool water-on-an-oil-fire video with a slow motion fireball by The Royal Institution. Title: Creating a Fireball - Pouring Water on an Oil Fire

[@smallgingerskater]

I would happily listen to James ramble and tell anecdotes for hours.

[@debbiethemadbee]

I read something somewhere that James once got bored during a science lesson at school and set fire to a sink. James should write a book on all the mischief he got upto as a child and teen.

[@PrivatePAuLa29a]

I would realy like an entire hour or two of james just babbeling along about what ever comes to his mind. Somehow I like the outtakes even more than the actual episode :D

[@seyeruoynepotsuj]

I love what you said about playing with matches has turned into kids on mobiles etc. Unfortunately, I'm typing this on a mobile! Another great vid Headsqueaze.

[@HeyJamesLookAtThis]

Well said!!

[@al3zmi]

i enjoy listening to James may

[@Fahrvergnugen]

You can do matchstick rockets with safety matches. The tip is still explosively flammable, and that's all that's important. If you do as Mr. May explains and wrap the very tip of the safety match in foil and then heat it with another match or a lighter, it'll still go off like a rocket. Only the cardboard matches are no good for it. You have to use wooden.

[@jazzybear5509]

I love your videos, you are brilliantly hilarious,the best host!#learning stuff the fun way

[@MJinPitt]

Very often I like the Extras videos better than the main one.

[@SpacemanXC]

I always watch these extras before the actual video. Which confirms my suspicions that I'm mostly here for James May.

[@BeastOfTraal]

They are called Strike anywhere Matches. If you hit the tip with a hammer they go BANG. Once when I was a kid I put 10 of them in a star formation. When I hit the center of the star the bang was loud enough for my ears to ring.

[@Viniter]

Another reason why you don't extinguish oil fire with water is that the water evaporates rapidly when it hits the hot oil, and send it flying, possibly back in your direction.

[@signorpippistrello]

Match rockets also work with safety matches. My mum showed me that when I was a kid. She´s about James´ age and that was obviously also fun for Austrian kids back in the day. But I remember stories of curtains set ablaze.....

[@wesmatron]

In fact chefs often deliberately set the old frying pan on fire...usually goes out quickly if you use the right amount of oil

[@Myloks]

Damp towel for a frying pan, thrown over the top to suffocate the fire. It gives you time to shut off the heat/power and prevents accidental spillage, flaming oil is not good for the feet :)

[@googleboughtmee]

This was amazing

[@lordyam]

if anyone is curious as to what this will do, ill tell ya. what happens is the ice(frozen water) almost instantaneously vaporizes into a gas. the super heated water vapor brings the cooking oil up it to its flash point and boom its ignites. gas fires are not fun and can be hard to put out.

[@qldavidlp4776]

James I learned the matchstick rocket in Vietnam from my younger cousin. If you wrapped both sides tightly enough ( we used gum wrapper foil) it would explode like a firecracker.

[@thebatzinator]

I love his sense of humor. XD

[@mckibbenta]

"So What?" Brilliant!

[@TilmanBaumann]

Another reason why you don't extinguish a oil fire with water is that oil can be hugely more hot than 100 degrees where water instantly evaporates into steam. On a bad day you get flammable oil atomized everywhere. You can extinguish your frying pan with water btw. Despite what your parents told you. Not your deep fryer. All a matter of ratios. A lot of water wins against little oil. The other way around is instant catastrophe.

[@Oinikis]

barrium salts makes green, sodium salts yellow, calcium salts makes stuff burn orange, strontium red, copper ions turn stuff blue. but various copper salts might burn green due to presence of other elements.

[@ybra]

Well to the first question, the fact that oil floats isn't as important as the fact that the water boils. If you throw water on burning oil, the oil will be well over 100C, which means the water will boil instantly. That will create a lot of steam which will almost explode and push the oil in to the air. And when the oil is mixed with the air it only burns faster. In short, you will get a ball of fire in your face.

[@LordHeath1972]

A very non-PC video...... I loved every minute of it!!!

[@Mars_junior]

if there is one video on KZbin that actually should be age restricted and isn't, it's this one. I'm 20 years old and wanna try pretty much everything with matches he's said. If my 13 year old self found this I would have spent every dollar I had on matches.

[@JonatasAdoM]

Nah, today's kids are too lazy, the moat the would do is try it in a videogame.

[@madyogi6164]

@@JonatasAdoM If today kids are "to lazy", then you are "to polite/careful" with words... In a decade they will type google search to find what a "match" is...

[@JonatasAdoM]

@@madyogi6164 Should I have used weak instead? Maybe should have used tired or overstimulated instead.

[@BaldMancTwat]

​@@JonatasAdoM Not really sure what your point is? Massive corporations have poisoned the minds of children and their equally adolescent parents with mass advertising and trapped them in a cycle of systematic, capitalistic, consumer addiction. Not really sure how your average man on the street is going to combat against that. Either way, your point is invalid. I'm 18 and my favourite thing to do as a kid was play with matches, make fires, smoke bombs, you name it. I also liked to build forts in the woods with logs or in the living room with pillows and blankets. Things like that will go on forever but weirdly, you seem to want to blame a child for what it likes.

[@Cr3ePiO]

I recommend the pan-fire Mythbusters episode, to all of you and James May, as a good example of putting out oil fires with water.

[@debbiethemadbee]

Kids setting fire to things was a norm whilst I was at highschool. If not some took pleasure setting the fire alarms off for the fun of it

[@mikenco]

I'm surprised he didn't mention "The Genie", whereby you took a new full box of matches and put a lit match in the box. Don't do this in your bedroom though, as it takes an age for the smoke (and the smell) to clear and your Mum WILL find out.

[@CaptChrispy]

We didn't have iPads, we had iPatches!

[@revmpandora]

Contrary to popular belief, and despite the constant alarmist tone of news media, kids today are safer than they were when James was young in every quantifiable way. That being said, it's been my experience that many people, even when presented with overwhelming statistical evidence, have quite a problem accepting this.

[@jezusmylord]

thats because they faster now.

[@Mortagus]

"the most of us are still alive" xD

[@hebbejebbe]

For anyone who was interested the red firework flames would be made from the combustion of salts that contained either Lithium, Rubidium or Strontium ions. (e.g. Lithium Sulphate, Strontium Nitrate, etc).

[@WCGwkf]

in my experience, there was no fire. just raging bubbling hot oil. it was at work too and there is a fire suppression system but I probably would have been fired if it caught fire

[@debbiethemadbee]

Any chef should know which fire extinguisher you use for which type of fire/flame

[@flashman_tv]

Green is barium, blue is copper, red is strontium. But the most interesting thing: If you keep your eyes on James` head, his hands become purple while moving. And thats related to our brain, which tries to correct it against the unnatural green background. And thanks for Head Squeeze, really like it.

[@slang1984]

I would say it's because the water would instantly turn into steam dragging hot oil with it into the air allowing it to mix with the air and combust.

[@koustave]

Not Safety Matches, I don't know what you call them... 'Danger Matches' This is again so much like Nigel from Spinal Tap...hahahaha

[@MrMega200]

If you ever watched "Dirty Jobs" on the Discovery cable channel they do an episode at a Fireworks place. Really good example that you can look up on Amazon Prime Video streaming. The whole process is dirty and dangerous because they are playing with gunpowder to make them go into the sky and explode with different colors. So if the mixture is not handled properly it can explode if dropped too hard and could start a chain reaction if other supplies are close enough.

[@TheBeetrootman]

I remember the fire-fighters coming to school as a teenager and creating chip pan fires. The oil goes at least 20 foot in the air. Imagine that hitting the ceiling and raining down hot oil. Ow.

[@Ethiopianraver]

I need to find a bicycle and "danger matches" immediately, it's 2am but I have flaming coming out of my feet whilst on a bike

[@docthebiker]

I'm 4 years older then James. In our "Joke Shop" in Watford I used to be able to buy Gun Cotton. That and smoke bombs along with Match Rockets and I'm surprised that any of us made it out of the 70's.

[@Zay98Zay]

thats was fantastic vid

[@highdownmartin]

Water on burning oil flashes into steam which sends the oil everywhere like an explosion

[@MultiLego3]

Question: why does water have a 'barrier' which can form drops?

[@boyercam]

Damn you sir ;)

[@HoRiderIRL]

my question i s"why did man lab stop" ??? great show !!

[@astaschak]

agreed

[@estelgreenleaf]

Not gonna lie, my friends and I have had match rocket wars

[@madpetrolhead1]

Now i see why Clarkson is so in love with fire and explosions :D

[@JoQeZzZ]

Strike anywhere matches right?

[@JonatasAdoM]

There are those small rectangular pieces of ceramic tile that you use to connect two tiles together or at the bottom of a wall. Me and my friend used them as swords and I ended up slashing his elbow arm from top to bottom. It wasn't pleasant.

[@TheXxkornmunkyx666]

You said duty.

[@shananagans5]

No doubt. I am 2 yrs younger than James. I was a girl in the 70s (still am) lol We rode bikes without helmets,I put model rocket engines in my Barbie Corvette,shot it across the street & lit the neighbors shrubs on fire.Luckily both my dad & the neighbor were Los Alimos engineers.Their first reaction was,Oh look,she is into rockets & not she could have burned the neighborhood down or I could have been killed that day.lol With all the stupid stuff we did it amazes me nobody was seriously injured

[@trippyhippy12]

Next Live Experiments please make match cannons!

[@boyercam]

End of series, there has just been a Series 2

[@TomBang1]

You dont need the danger matches to make the match rockets, i have done it with safety matches.

[@cheyennedogsoldiers]

LOL! Take 2 bolts and a nut. Begin screwing said nut onto first bolt. Cut off danger match heads and place inside nut. CAREFULLY screw second bolt into nut. Hide behind a door, reach around and drop contraption so as one bolt hits the ground. BANG! The 70's was a great time to be a kid, And best of all, most of my friends lived to become irresponsible adults.

[@AltarenGalil]

No playing with matches is still loads of fun, at least was like 10 years ago. Best toy ever, stil have plenty of clothes with tiny burn holes xD

[@yourfilmindustry]

damn... those match rockets sound like a lot of fun :D

[@GamesnBrains]

I finally found out the answer to the question that we all wanted to know. James is an "outie". (Belly button)

[@JonatasAdoM]

He said at the end of fuel but I've heard at the end of films.

[@tobortine]

Bryant and May matches back in the early 70s, any relation James ?

[@JoQeZzZ]

They're called strike anywhere matches, aren't they?

[@twocvbloke]

My dad once blew up my grandma's oven when making chemical rocket engines (for models, of course), very similar to making fireworks, but did result in a household bang... :P

[@heynando]

why is that every firework will eventually blow up? is it because of human error? or perhaps a natural event? or is it because of some chemical/physical reaction that will happen when it gets old? im curious now, in my block there's a huge firework station and my dad is always worried they would blow up someday.

[@sillysad3198]

i have never done it indoors!!!

[@matthewpepperl]

they are called strike anywhere matches.

[@swaharmaman9410]

Where is the flower t-shirt?

[@touge242]

matchstick rockets? I'm totally trying that at home

[@Dinglemanas]

The rockets works with regular maches... And it is a lot fun.

[@Sorenle72]

Lol, where did that come from?

[@mckseal]

Just let James talk about these things.

[@greeber18]

a fire truck siren the background...ironic

[@azjc6352]

HA I'm thinking that I'm a bit older but he reminds me of some of my early friends

[@konstantinpodleski6103]

Strontium makes a brighter red color than iron.

[@diesel508]

"So what" ha!

[@christophernewton8474]

strontium is red i think

[@zeus_anoxia]

The Extras video is longer than the actual episode. Why not combine the two into a single clip?? Is it just about doubling the number of views that the channel gets??

[@LlwtyDeer]

Strontium is red

[@3amsleep]

I Had so much fun with tin foil and matches when I was young !

[@ExperimentLife]

Someone just owned call of duty players

[@alphaecho361]

Aren't red fireworks made with strontium?

[@onepunchben]

4:12

[@egerpaulwerner5842]

he is a crazy guy and I recall my child hood I'm (was) crazy too

[@Sorenle72]

It sounds like you had a lot more fun back in the days! Now people sit infront of the computer with digital text messages without rarely seeing the person in the so called "real life".

[@THESAMMANCAN]

i like this cus clarkson and hammond arent telling him to shut up :P

[@madyogi6164]

Yea, falls bruises sometimes blood, playing with fire here and there, hide and seek on the construction sites, all kinds of sports or running over the city with friends, just to kill time. Thing sometimes illegal or at least doubtful. Still bringing a damn lot of joy! The cool kids are all grown now! Today, all I see are poor souls with one pathetic thing in their hands - smartphones... All like brain washed. Not mentioning those idiots who died walking under a car or falling of bridge while trying to do a selfie...

[@billybigdinners7407]

Wish I was still alive!!!

[@martinshoosterman]

id love to see you bring Jeremy Clarkson or Richard Hammond in one of your videos.

[@hwb92]

And thus the term was born; Fire-crotch.

[@indigestive]

Nah. Water is more dense than oil so will sink to the bottom. When you throw water onto an oil fire the reason it blows up into a much bigger flame is because the water droplets almost instantly turn to steam propelling burning oil into the air.

[@carbon1255]

He corrected himself later.

[@Minihood31770]

Potassium is pink and purple.

[@toxxxic22]

So what, I agree.

[@KB9813]

May I really like you. Your awesome

[@TomPls]

Ask Jeremy Clarkson, I bet you he'd say driving fast.