Posted on 02/22/2022 12:46:11 AM PST by nickcarraway
When I was taking a freshman chemistry lab, a guy I knew in the dorm was in the same class. We were making something, don't remember what, and one step was to evaporate a solvent from a round bottom flask to obtain the purified product at the bottom of the flask
So, the solvent was flammable and a steam bath was used to heat up the solvent. A funnel was clamped upside down above the flask and a vacuum line pulled vapors out of the work area. All good so far.
The dorm guy was impatient so used a bunson burner (open flame) to speed things up. In short order, he was holding a fireball in his hands. It made quite a whomp when he threw the fireball in the lab sink. All this was was going on about 6ft from me where I had my own little work space at the lab bench.
Off the infirmary he went for treating burns mainly to his hand. Never saw the guy again. He was kicked out of the class of course but also disappeared from the dorm. Probably had to drop out to recuperate. Universities are pretty tolerant of doing dumb things.
And… https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mIBTg7q9oNc&t=64s
Is rocket fuel the new street name for meth?
Thanks........ as a former Estes design engineer, I now have a new thought to mess with.
Alas, I gave away all my rocket design pamphlets
Shoot. All I cooked in my dorm room was fudge in the popcorn popper. Chocolate chips, Marshmallow Fluff ...
Once it’s mixed, you pour it into a mold and it solidifies into a hard solid. I used cylinders so as to make rocket engines.
If confined, it could explode. Crushing it into smallish chunks would accelerate the burn rate and it would get out of control. Loaded into a heavy paper casing if would blow apart with lots of flying lavender chunks and smoke.
I think the ratio was 2 parts by weight of sugar and 3 of potassium nitrate. Melt the sugar under low heat and blend in the saltpeter until the mix was a uniform goo with a caramel color.
Who pays for damages
I always preferred sugar-potassium chlorate. Set it off with a drop of sulfuric acid.
Closest event to that inmy life was when I was trying to make gunpowder in our basement (for 4th of July-type demos) when I was about 14 (1966). I paid my sister to buy the saltpeter at the drug store where she worked (the owner/pharmacist guessed correctly what it was for), and my dad brought home some sulfur he had found, and I must have ground up charcoal, and had mixed some together and swept up the mixture on a bench - which was almost directly under the kitchen where mom (of 5 kids) was.
In the basement besides my younger brother was neighbor Dennis, who tended to get in trouble, and while I was a few feet away from the bench he asked, "What would happen if I put a match to this?" at which point he already had the match lit close to it. Seeing this I said, "Dennis, Don't!" but it was too late, as the cloud of burning powder ascended North, quickly followed by the question Mom had to ask too many times in my life, "Danny, what are you doing...? I forgot my mollifying reply, but unlike today, while I had strict parents, things like chemistry experimentation (chemistry sets used to be common gifts back then) was not a forbidden practice. Never did perfect the gunpowder though.
We used to make bombs out of Salt Peter (sp?) and other ingredients readily available. We got in trouble but never went to Juvey or probation. You can’t find salt petre (sp?) anywhere these days.
I got it.
This all new and different to me
Thanks
Potassium nitrate is very available, though it might get you on some kind of watch list.
Couldn’t afford quantities of potassium chlorate when I was a kid. My friend’s father was a druggist and we got saltpeter for 27 cents a pound. (Sulfur was 5 cents.)
My first thought, as well. Love that show. The writing is terrific. The dad, the grandma, the brother—fantastic characters.
FYI, watch what your kids are doing if you find them messing around in the laundry room.
How to Make Potassium Chlorate at Home From Bleach and Salt Substitute
https://sciencenotes.org/how-to-make-potassium-chlorate-at-home-from-bleach-and-salt-substitute/
It is best to melt it on a hot plate, never an open flame.
The finished motor must be stored in a sealed container with a desiccant because it will absorb a lot of water fro the air in a short time.
It is an excellent propellant, but quirky.
OK. Very few people “film” anymore.
Potassium chlorate and asphalt also works.
I’ve actually never seen that show even once but I know of it. I don’t watch anything on any of the big three networks.
Hi..
Not that I know anything, but Hydrazine is some nasty stuff.
H2O2 and acetone is some nasty stuff.
Amonia and bleach can be some nasty stuff too.
Sorry, train of thought spewing.
5.56mm
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