T_FLeX - 31-10-2003 at 14:20
Came across a neat little trick with boric acid on another forum. Fix up about 250ml of denatured alcohol, and 3 teaspoons of boric acid, heat gently
until completely dissolved, and put into your alcohol burner then BAM! Instead of the usual blue flame you got a beautiful green flame.
Just thought I would share this cool trick with fellow mad scientist.
Haggis - 31-10-2003 at 15:52
A stontium or lithium compound dissolved in alchohol would provide a nice red color. IMO, it would serve as a nice moodsetter with your female (or
male, I suppose) of choice.
trinitrotoluene - 1-11-2003 at 14:23
I've tried boric acid and methyl alcohol before, it does produce a nice green fire, I had emailed a picture or two to a few people in school,
they were quite impressed about what I did. Too bad I don't have strontium, or lithium compounds, I really wanted to try out other colors.
Other colors
chloric1 - 1-11-2003 at 16:13
Hey how about lithium chloride or nitrate with copper nitrate in methanol?? Purple fire! Think about how cool that would be!
I must try this.
T_FLeX - 2-11-2003 at 13:06
Yea I was thinking about trying a couple of different combinations myself, but haven't got around to it.
Certain solid compounds burn different colors like barium chloride- yellow, and potassium chloride-blue, do you guys think these compounds dissolved
in an ethanol solution would yield the same colors? Is there a danger of toxic by products?
T_FLeX - 2-11-2003 at 14:01
Did a little searching and found this:
Green flame: Borax or Boric acid, copper nitrates or barium nitrates
Orange flame: calcium chloride
Red flame: stronium nitrate
Yellow flame: Sodium Chorate or Potassium Nitrate
Purple flame: Lithium Chlorate
Mumbles - 2-11-2003 at 14:31
I think Potassium Nitrate should give a purple flame. It's just a matter of purity. Many sources for Potassium Nitrate(usually from fertilizer)
are impure with Sodium salts. The strong yellow of the Sodium ion over powers the relitively weak purple of the potassium. More colors and compounds
can be found by using google search with the term "flame test" or "Colored fire" or something to that effect.
When I don't make smoke bombs right(not melting together) and they ignite a purple flame is produced. I have also recrystalised the
KNO<sub>3</sub> at least twice to get it up to a reasonable purity. Also to remove some of the junk left in it.
Ramiel - 3-11-2003 at 05:52
I'd worry about burning some of those chemicals in large ammounts. Dumping a few teaspoons of boric acid in alchohol and burning it gives me the
willies.
I was unfortunate enough to inhale small ammounts of boric acid in high school chemistry. Twice actually, although both incidents were accidental. It
has a wierd effect on the CNS.
Approx. 30 minutes after the inhilation of an unknown ammount, and following acute respiratory irritation, there was a 2-3 hour period of
dissociation, and mild hallucination.
er, yea... so what i mean to say is - be careful when burning large ammounts of chemicals in a room - especially a mood lit room ( 
)
chemoleo - 3-11-2003 at 21:08
don't forget, calcium also gives a nice red colour. Although maybe not as monochromatic and clear as Sr and Li.... Try it its still impressive
Mongo Blongo - 7-11-2003 at 11:57
Ethyl Borate gives a very cool green flame. It can be made by adding some boric acid to ethanol and adding a few ml of conc H2SO4 (catylist) and
heating for a while.
Methyl Borate can be prepared in the same method but using methanol instead.