Copper nitrate's potential oxidizing and explosive properties

Quote: Originally posted by LardmanAttack

So recently, I've been wondering about copper nitrate, and other more exotic nitrates in general and the possibility of using them in combination with ANFO to potentially create different coloured explosions. How possible is this?

Nickel Hydrazine Nitrate (NHN) is always a crowd pleaser.

Quote: Originally posted by LardmanAttack

So recently, I've been wondering about copper nitrate, and other more exotic nitrates in general and the possibility of using them in combination with ANFO to potentially create different coloured explosions. How possible is this?

Quote: Originally posted by Bert

Quote: Originally posted by LardmanAttack   So recently, I've been wondering about copper nitrate, and other more exotic nitrates in general and the possibility of using them in combination with ANFO to potentially create different coloured explosions. How possible is this? If you want a quick, colored flash, you may have better luck using fine Magnesium and your oxidizer/colorant/(possibly a chlorine donor) combination of choice. Such mixtures have been in use for over a century- They often give up something in safety and are generally rather poorer in storage stability than standard Al/perchlorate report mixtures, be warned and keep experiments SMALL... Looking through formula lists such as the one linked below, there are over a dozen documented colored flash mixes. https://pyrodata.com/composition/flash-powder?filter-color-f... [Edited on 11-8-2019 by Bert]

Quote: Originally posted by Bert

Quote: Originally posted by LardmanAttack   So recently, I've been wondering about copper nitrate, and other more exotic nitrates in general and the possibility of using them in combination with ANFO to potentially create different coloured explosions. How possible is this? If you want a quick, colored flash, you may have better luck using fine Magnesium and your oxidizer/colorant/(possibly a chlorine donor) combination of choice. Such mixtures have been in use for over a century- They often give up something in safety and are generally rather poorer in storage stability than standard Al/perchlorate report mixtures, be warned and keep experiments SMALL... Looking through formula lists such as the one linked below, there are over a dozen documented colored flash mixes. https://pyrodata.com/composition/flash-powder?filter-color-f... [Edited on 11-8-2019 by Bert]

Quote: Originally posted by Bert

Barium nitrate containing HE has a long history (including its use in Baratol, a Barium nitrate + TNT mixture, used in the "slow" component of the original Fatman implosion systsm). Issues with HE produced colored flashes, just off the top of my head? How long and at what intensity does a flash need to last for a human eye to detect it as more than just a blinding flash? Some duration, enough for your pupils to contract might be nice. HE events in close proximity are usually mostly evident from the after effects of "things going away rapidly" than flashes emitted from the reaction itself. Good color production requires a nice transparent gas around the light producing reaction. A bunch of soot from O2 deficient HE or solid metal oxide particles from fuels such as Al surrounding your light source will be giving off black body radiation at random wavelengths, light will look yellow/white. It may be possible. How well it may be made to work and how easily, I can't say. We have always done colored light effects with low explosives...