My high school chemistry teacher told our class that in the very-old times at the county rodeo the trick was to coat the top of one anvil with nitroglycerine then VERY carefully place another anvil on top... then a sharp-shooter would shoot the anvil stack, igniting the nitro and shooting the upper anvil "at least 150 feet into the air."
The dude seemed old enough to have seen this done in antebellum days so we believed him.
The dude seemed old enough to have seen this done in antebellum days so we believed him.