Uses a specific effect on an element (without the show/hide logic).
$("p").click(function () { $("div").effect("explode"); });
<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <link href="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jqueryui/1.8/themes/base/jquery-ui.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"/> <script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.5/jquery.min.js"></script> <script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jqueryui/1.8/jquery-ui.min.js"></script> <script src="http://ui.jquery.com/latest/ui/effects.core.js"></script> <script src="http://ui.jquery.com/latest/ui/effects.explode.js"></script> <style type="text/css"> div { margin: 0 auto; width: 100px; height: 80px; background: blue; position: relative; } </style> <script> $(document).ready(function() { $("p").click(function () { $("div").effect("explode"); }); }); </script> </head> <body style="font-size:62.5%;"> <p>Click me</p><div></div> </body> </html>