Inert material in M-80 style firecrackers?

to clarify

You haven taken one year of college chemistry?

I even haven't finished my first year of college in chemical engineering....

Why am I beginning to fear about the US education system?

to be fair

I think the chemistry department at my school is really good for such a small university. But I still wouldn't expect an 'A' student who had finished General Chemistry I & II (first year chem studies) to be very knowledgeable about explosives or pyrotechnics. Gen Chem gives you the general foundations to build upon, so that things you later learn have a framework to fit into. I'm only in Gen Chem II (taking it as a recreational class before graduation) but I have a lot of knowledge that I gained outside the classroom to add to the mix. That's a lot different from someone in Gen Chem II who's just started in the world of amateur experimentalism.

I am almost learning in reverse: I learned, from books/articles/personal experimentation, many specific and interesting things that are now forming unified constellations of knowledge in my mind as opposed to the isolated pinpricks they were before. The only purpose of classes for me is to make sure I keep on studying what I should; lecturing professors don't help me much. I hope that with self-discipline I will also grow into a competent organic chemist through personal study, as opposed to the sort of patchwork chemist (very good in some areas, totally ignorant in others) that I am now.

But, eerily, I have found in my short time studying chemistry here that the problems that most interest me are of a physical chemistry nature... Spooky, for someone as disinterested in math as I am! Thank goodness for computers and my ability to program them, so I don't have to do all those horrible horrible calculations by hand

Oh, what was I saying before I went off on a tangent? Ah, yes: the pre-university American education system is pretty abysmal, but I don't think the universities are. And no matter where you live, I think it is unusual for a first-year chem major to be well-informed on explosive/pyrotechnic chemistry unless they have done a lot of extracurricular work.

I am a freshman mechanical engineering major, not a chem major. Sophomore year in high school, I took high school chemistry (a joke). Last year, I took one year of Advanced Placement (college) chemistry in high school. I believe this covered two semesters of chemistry. Last semester, I took chemistry for engineers. Basically, this covers the first year of chemistry, but without lab.

I didn't mind the redundancy, because I love chemistry and physics. Any chemistry courses I take from now on will be electives.

[Edited on 4/2/2003 by Cappy]

Cardboard, clay, resinous plastic/epoxyd, hydrated lime can be found aside from the pyrotechnic composition; Most of the time indeed to increase resistance and confinement!

I personnaly have also dismanteled crackers in my early times (when I was younger-so much than today... ) to see what was in it...natural scientific curiosity!
And I wonder how many of us haven't done this or be tempted to do so...?

So to be honnest I don't blame you for being so currious because after all your post was stil scientific in the way you investigated the white stuff and read the legislation about crackers and made some conclusions; then running out of idea to confirm or infirm what you thought you asked here!

That's the way science work!
Read what is known and assimilate theories, put new hypothesis, make experiments, infirm or confirm hypothesis, run other experiments to decrease incertitude and improve theory or see its limitations!To have the umbleness to admit you are confused and seem to reach a deadend and explain your results with other knowledgeable people to see if they might help!You did this!

Thanks PHILOU Zrealone! You are the kind of person that makes forums helpful and enjoyable for new members like myself.

I've never been to a forum where information was such serious business. Other forums share plenty of information, but don't mind off topic conversation so much. It is about socializing and having fun too. However, I can understand why some forums wouldn't want to be to friendly to people who have made mistakes like me. It seems like people here don't have the patience/time to waste helping newbies, and would rather concentrate on sharing information that can't be found other places. I was finally able to get onto roguesci.org, and I have found some resources that are a bit more reliable than Anarchist Cookbook/Terrorist's Handbook. For lab equipment/materials, I only have what your average kitchen and household have + sulfuric acid and a few model rocket/fireworks supplies. That makes it pretty hard to learn stuff on my own. I don't know if I'll be able to contribute to the conversations on exotic explosives any time soon.

[Edited on 4/2/2003 by Cappy]

It definitely is possible. Take me, for example. I'm sixteen and am breezing my way through a college-level chemistry course (it's easy for me now because I became familiar with most of the material when I was fifteen). Age really shouldn't be taken for anything other than a general guide - it's not an absolute indicator of who someone is and what their abilities are.

Edit: Yes, public schools here in America are really bad, but not necessarily the worst in the world. Many nations, when participating in comparisons of public schools around the world, will only submit the standardized test scores of their best students, while America submits the standardized test scores of all students. Just something to keep in mind when seeing statistics of the "a sixth grader there equals a third grader here" variety.

[Edited on 2-4-2003 by madscientist]