Breaking Bad III – thermite break-in

The heat, gas and sparks produced by a thermite reaction

Source: Albert Russ/Shutterstock

On screen chemistry with Jonathan Hare

In Breaking Bad Walt is a high school chemistry teacher turned bad, ‘cooking up’ amphetamine (crystal meth) with his partner Jesse. Their starting material for the crystal meth is an over-the-counter drug from the pharmacist. Unfortunately the pharmacist is only legally allowed to sell a couple of packets to one person, so Jesse has to organise a whole host of ‘Smurfs’ (‘dudes’ prepared to go into loads of pharmacists) to go out and collect enough.

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