A boy makes his way on a bicycle along a flooded road near the Ganges River in Allahabad on August 23, 2022, as water levels rose following monsoon rainfalls. (Photo by Sanjay Kanojia/AFP Photo)

A man walks past a stranded public transport bus on a road flooded by heavy rains in Mumbai, India, August 5, 2016. (Photo by Shailesh Andrade/Reuters)

If we were to burn NH4Cr2O7 with HgSCN in the Dark Ages in Europe and show it to anyone, it is us who would be burning next on a fiery cross of Inquisition. And it’s no wonder, since this experiment produces a truly marvelous result. At first, as you ignite the mixture of NH4Cr2O7 and HgSCN, all you can see is that it is slowly burning with a reddish flame. After a while, however, a crater is formed in the middle of the burning pile, and then, suddenly, tentacle-like appendages start sprouting from the burning mixture. And you can almost hear the scream of the mad occultist – “Come forth, Kraken! Come forth!” But of course, this is simply a chemical reaction that is called the "Pharoah's Serpent". It was also often sold in firework stores until people realized that it was toxic.

A Russian peacekeeper shouts “No pictures!” at a checkpoint outside the city of Stepanakert on November 13, 2020, during a ceasefire in the military conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Russian began deploying 2,000 peacekeepers to Nagorno-Karabakh on November 10 after Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed a peace deal to end weeks of fierce fighting over the disputed region. (Photo by Alexander Nemenov/AFP Photo)

Burdened with a shawl full of her belongings, a woman stops for a rest on the road between Julaca and Puno in Peru. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1955

Traffic police stand at the side of a road in Pyongyang on November 25, 2016. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)

A girl gets a helping hand across the road in Swansea, Wales, England on December 31, 2017. (Photo by Athena Picture Agency)

A man runs on a small road in the outskirts of Frankfurt, Germany, before sunrise on Tuesday, September 1, 2020. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)