Back in the days when Guy Fawkes Night meant twopenny bangers and street bonfires, we used to make shallow puddles, stick a banger upright into the ground in the middle, light it then drop a tin can over so that it rested in the water.

The fuse burns up the oxygen in the tin, air pressure pushes it down tightly to the bottom of the puddle, but the fuse, making its own oxygen carries on, till the main charge ignites.

Angled very slightly, the tin can would often fly clear over the top of a four storey building.

Don T.