h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I am working with a small USB camera toy set up on a miniature dolly, like a Hollywood movie camera. I have a stage set with figures, etc., and would like to have a small amount of smoke or fog, only a few cubic feet at most. The stores have only fog machines like rock bands use, I don't need that much. The hobby shops have some liquid for model locomotives, but its pretty expensive. I've read that various strength glycol mixtures can give good results, and my wife has some glycol for soap making, so I though I'd try throwing some on a hot surface - just a little.

Any suggestions? And yes, I know safety first.

Cheapest: The firework called a 'snake' in the United States puts out a great deal of smoke. You'd want to do this outside, though.

A little more expensive, and requires some logisitics: Put dry ice into a bowl of water. The fog will sink, because it is cold, so it's not good smoke.

For USD$30-50, you can get an ultrasonic mister designed for use with tabletop fountains and bonsai. Here in California, the air is sufficiently dry that you can't simulate a pea-souper with one-the mist evaporates. You will need to use distilled water if you want the device to last. Your cat may hate you for this.

OK, thanks. The snake idea is new to me, sounds interesting. I vaguely recall these from my youth (my wife & I have no kids), and they must be fairly safe as a Google search said some states allow them (unlike firecrackers, Roman candles, etc.) Does anybody sell fireworks like this year round? All I see here near Houston, TX are stands at New Year's and July 4th ...

I would want to do this inside, maybe just dowse it after a few seconds?

BTW, I did find online a toy from the Exploratorium in San Francisco (I think), a sort of water gun looking thing, but it "shoots" smoke rings. A possibility if the virtually free stuff doesn't work out.

I'm told that fireworks are a major social institution in the state of South Carolina. Any large party is likely to have some. I'm told you can get anything in New Orleans, if you look. Here in California, only a few cities are willing to risk selling fireworks at all, and only on the fourth, so you'd have to drive to Mexico.

What the mailing logistics of something that smells like gunpowder would be, now that the federal department of Homeland Security is likely involved, I do not know. I know that 4 years ago the nitro fuel that some remote controlled model race cars use is toxic and explosive used to be shippable (at a cost) but this may no longer be true.

(Off topic post alert) Nitromethane has a vivid place in my memory. As a chemical engineer I was assigned to a project that would use nitromethane as a feedstock, being shipped to Texas from Louisiana. The DOT required that it be shipped in drums rather than tank cars, a major headache due to the handling, empty drums, etc. This was because on two occasions years ago, a tank car of nitromethane exploded, leaving a moon-scale crater. Tests involving firing shells at (thin walled) drums of NM could not generate an explosion, only a fire. It turns out that rapid compression with no heat removal (adiabatic) is required, like a nearby explosion sending a tank car airborn, landing on and crushing the NM tank car with its heavy wall. Then, to quote Calvin, "Kablooie!"

Tennessee was another state, long known for fireworks availability. Nowadays, I believe Michigan is another.