YouTube is full of videos about matchstick projects, and although they all point in the same direction (that is, with a lot of fire), sometimes we find true examples of dedication and perseverance. For example, how crazy do you have to be to work with one million matches? The Technical TechTube channel invested more than 750 hours cutting and pasting matches, also creating gunpowder from their heads, and assembling everything in the shape of a rocket...
Besides rescuing you when traditional lighters throw in the towel, matches have other interesting applications. For example, they are an excellent starting point for creating plasma inside a microwave oven, and if you have a little time to spare, they always lead to crafts that end up wrapped in flames. The question is, what happens when there is a lot of time and a good budget? I imagine the price of matches in large quantities varies depending on the region, but if you can accumulate a million... maybe you can do something like this.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/XOxCYlcc76MBuilding the Rocket
The first step is to cut the matches to half their normal size, then glue each one onto cardboard circles (on both sides) that form the main structure of the rocket. After gluing the circles and closing the top, the project focuses on creating the main 'tank', made of soft cardboard and aluminum foil.
Hundreds of thousands of crushed matches later, the rocket has its 'solid fuel', and the rest is about creating a nozzle, followed by fins that also serve as legs, all made of matches, of course.
One million matches, almost 750 hours of work (600 of them crushing matches), and a rocket reduced to ashes in just a few minutes. Before the complaints roll in, the answer is yes: the video has CGI, the 'flight' is a trick, and honestly we didn't expect anything else. But we admire the patience to process a million matches that way. Personally, I would have given up at 5 percent, or set half the house on fire.
