Xploderz is a line of

toy weapon Toy guns are toys which imitate gun, real guns, but are designed for recreational sport or casual play by children. From hand-carved wooden replicas to factory-produced pop guns and cap guns, toy guns come in all sizes, prices and materials suc ...

s made by The Maya Group to compete with

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923 by Henry, Hillel and Herma ...

's Nerf Super Soaker line and marketed as a safer alternative to

paintball Paintball is a competitive sport, competitive team sport, team shooting sport in which players eliminate opponents from play by hitting them with spherical dye-filled gelatin capsules called Paintball equipment#Paintballs, paintballs that b ...

. The concept is based on Orbeez, a toy line also by The Maya Group that uses water-absorbent gel pellets, and hence the toy line is sometimes referred to as "Orbeez ball shooters". When playing, a piston rod is manually pulled back against spring tension in a fashion similar to drawing a

slingshot A slingshot or catapult is a small hand-powered projectile weapon. The classic form consists of a Y-shaped frame, with two tubes or strips made from either a natural rubber or synthetic elastic material. These are attached to the upper two ends ...

, allowing pellets to be drop-loaded from a top mounted

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

. When the rod is released, the spring elasticity drives piston to pressurize the

air pump An air pump is a pump for pushing air. Examples include a bicycle pump, pumps that are used to aerate an aquarium or a pond via an airstone; a gas compressor used to power a pneumatic tool, air horn or pipe organ; a bellows used to encoura ...

behind the pellets, which in turn propels the pellets flying out forward. The ammunition used is what the Maya Group calls "H2Grow Technology", wherein

superabsorbent polymer A superabsorbent polymer (SAP) (also called slush powder) is a water-absorbing hydrophilic homopolymers or copolymers that can absorb and retain extremely large amounts of a liquid relative to its own mass. Water-absorbing polymers, which are cl ...

pellets (containing

sodium polyacrylate Sodium polyacrylate (ACR, ASAP, or PAAS), also known as waterlock, is a sodium salt of polyacrylic acid with the chemical formula ��CH2−CH(CO2Na)− and has broad applications in consumer products. This Superabsorbent polymer, super-absorb ...

sodium hydroxide Sodium hydroxide, also known as lye and caustic soda, is an inorganic compound with the formula . It is a white solid ionic compound consisting of sodium cations and hydroxide anions . Sodium hydroxide is a highly corrosive base (chemistry), ...

and colorings) grow into spherical

hydrogel A hydrogel is a Phase (matter), biphasic material, a mixture of Porosity, porous and Permeation, permeable solids and at least 10% of water or other interstitial fluid. The solid phase is a water Solubility, insoluble three dimensional network ...

bead A bead is a small, decorative object that is formed in a variety of shapes and sizes of a material such as stone, bone, shell, glass, plastic, wood, or pearl and with a small hole for threading or stringing. Beads range in size from under 1 ...

s around 7–11 mm in size after being immersed in water for about three hours. Unlike

airsoft Airsoft, also known as survival game () in Japan where it was popular, is a team sport, team-based shooting sport, shooting game in which participants eliminate opposing players out of play by shooting them with airsoft pellets, spherical plast ...

and

pellets, the hydrogel shots are not biodegradable, and should not be inhaled once dried or in their powdered form. They are easy to clean off clothing, and will not cause any bodily injury due to their softness and readily tendency to fragment upon impact. Finally, sodium polyacrylate can cause severe clogging if it enters sewers or drainage systems in large quantities. Otherwise, sodium polyacrylate is non-toxic and safe from any major risks. The data on its safety on environment is not adequate, however it is considered non-biodegradable and may cause salinization of soil when added in large quantities.Xploderz.com - H2Grow Technology

References

External links

Official site
* Water guns 2010s toys Products introduced in 2011 {{Toy-stub

See also

References

External links