Hi,
In the episode DeathLock, Mac is creating a smoke screen with baking soda and vinegar. As we know, this is only producing bobbles, and no smoke. What do we need to add to get the smoke?
I am actually looking for some cheap, easy and secure way to create a smoke screen for a children show, so if you have any other idea to do that, I'll take it too

Hi Kristelle and welcome to MacGyver Online!

The safest thing id recommend is dry ice. You can purchase it from your local ice cream shop and place it in a pot for the effect. Just refrain from touching it. Its not dangerous but it can sting if you touch it for a while.

I think the only way to get smoke with Vinegar would be to replace the baking soda with ammonia and then spray both into the air so the mix together as a fine mist. The two chemicals react and go cloudy which in a fine mist looks like smoke.

This is actually used in the episode Hell Week from season 3.

Hi KiwiTek, thanks for the answer
Vinegar and ammonia, is this safe for a children show you think? If yes, it is probably the easiest way to do it but well, I am not quite confident about the ammonia? Did you try it?

Hi Denizen, thanks for your answer
Dry ice is not that easy to find in my country (Norway), I will have to investigate. did you try it? Does it make much smoke? How do you transport it and how long does it smoke? The show is on saturday and sunday evenings, but the industry where I can buy it from is closed at week ends so I would have to get it on friday.

The chemicals neutralize each other and you end up with a salty water solution, but you are using chemicals non-the-less, so care needs to be taken as you can't guarantee 100% naturalization... i.e. if you spray a little more of one chemical than the other there may be a little more of that chemical left over.

Hi Denizen, thanks for your answer
Dry ice is not that easy to find in my country (Norway), I will have to investigate. did you try it? Does it make much smoke? How do you transport it and how long does it smoke? The show is on saturday and sunday evenings, but the industry where I can buy it from is closed at week ends so I would have to get it on friday.

Hi Kristelle

It will not smoke the area up completely but it has a great smokey affect when it reacts with water. This is because it lacks oxygen. So the moment you add water to it, it gets smokey. The more ice you buy the better.

Keep it it the freezer till you need it and transport it using a polystyrene box.

Safer than chemicals and works great. Do a Google / YouTube search for some results/examples.

Thanks for the answers both of you, I will try with dry ice first, sounds very safe, and fun It should have a grand effect when we sing Bohemian Rhapsody

Have fun & let us know how it goes.