It's a fact of school life, long established, that some science experiments are cooler than others. Burning peanuts to establish calorie content? Boring. Exploding a mess of chemicals to create a multi-limbed ash kraken monster?
Pretty interesting.
This experiment, featuring the combustion of Mercury (II) thiocyanate and Ammonium chromate, is a spectacular example of the 'Pharaoh's Snake' fireworks, particularly popular in North America.
The video above is a highly toxic and more extreme version of the experiment, and notable for the fact that its many-limbed terror looks exactly like a monster risen from hell.
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Take a look, above.