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I'm an artist currently using propane and butane in my show where I put the gas into a soap bubble and light it to produce a nice flame.

But I'd like to start working with a lighter than air flammable gas, that's relatively easy to get hold of, and as safe as it possibly can be.

The propane/butane I use comes in small canisters and the biggest risk, as I see it, is forgetting to close the tap.

Any ideas?

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  • $\begingroup$ Ever considered hydrogen? Not sure how easily available that'll be for you... I just electrolyze water to get mine O:) Besides, if you were to electrolyze water to get some hydrogen, might as well collect the oxygen produced in the same container as well... the result is Oxyhydrogen, and it's pretty flammable. [ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxyhydrogen ] $\endgroup$ – paracetamol Sep 19 '17 at 6:24
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    $\begingroup$ flammable && sefeish = False; $\endgroup$ – andselisk♦ Sep 19 '17 at 6:24
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    $\begingroup$ @paracetamol hydrogen would be a lot of "fun" for another audience (paramedics I guess). Mixed with oxygen it rather detonates than burns, so most likely there will be a boom and very little fire. $\endgroup$ – andselisk♦ Sep 19 '17 at 6:28
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    $\begingroup$ @andselisk I was under the impression hydrogen deflagrates (and doesn't usually explode). Besides, you have a point there! :O $\endgroup$ – paracetamol Sep 19 '17 at 6:29
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    $\begingroup$ @andselisk Also, I think I've seen the "trick" the OP does with flammable gases and soap bubbles before. Considering the size of the bubble (could've fit in my palm...) and the amount of (oxy)hydrogen in it, I don't think it'll be much of a threat to the OP's existence. The stored hydrogen is another matter though... :D $\endgroup$ – paracetamol Sep 19 '17 at 6:31
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I would propose to use hydrogen, as it is pretty easy to obtain right there where you need it and it's the lightest gas ever.
You can even watch a video where the whole setup for the bubble experiment is described (at the end).
Besides hydrogen, methane looks good to me, and it is also in our everyday life, being the natural gas. But the setup for using household methane is imagined more complicated to me than the one with hydrogen.
Just be very careful with any flammable gas, don't make it another Hindenburg :) enter image description here

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Methane gas is lighter than air and you can do practically everything with it that you can do with propane/butane. I can’t comment on how easy it is to acquire because that depends on your jurisdiction.

In the Christmas and carneval lectures at my university, some fun with large methane-filled balloons that were then ignited was always had, but you can also ignite soap bubbles.

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    $\begingroup$ You can't liquefy methane with relatively moderate pressure and store it in canisters, that's where it differs from propane/butane. $\endgroup$ – Ivan Neretin Sep 19 '17 at 8:09

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