Paperclips Launched Matchstick Missiles

Here is another story about paperclips from one of my favorite uncles:

In my younger days, I was about 15 or 16 then, we were managing a Magnolia kiosk in Naga City and I used to hang out there after school. While waiting for customers to come in, I played with matches pretending they were missiles. I used paperclips as a launching pad - yes, you read it right, a launching pad. How did I do it? Well I didn't know then how to make the match stick soar like a missile... then I thought of using paperclips.

I took one clip from my dad's office and slightly opened it up on a 45 degree angle. I covered the match head with the silver foil from cigarette boxes, leaving a small opening where the "smoke" would come out after I lit the stick. By lighting the match head, it would build up enough pressure and push itself up in the air with the help of the paper as a lauching pad. That was how I spent my idle time until your lolo caught me doing it and told me that I might end up burning something.

That was the end of my missile launching career... but my respect for the paperclips still remained.

He has some of the most interesting paperclip stories. Read another one here.