I thought he was more into explosives and flame.

That too... But IIRC there was a Tesla coil (or something else that used bigass caps) involved when his sister interfered somehow (funny how fuzzy the details are :-).
Tossed him across the room - said it instilled a bit of respect for electricity in him... I have my doubts

Or that jar of nitrogen tri-iodid impounded and locked in the school safe... But that might have been his friend - as I said the details are fuzzy...

/Michael