Rhodanide - 8-1-2018 at 10:39
I got a comment on one of my videos from a fellow who wanted to know if Diiodoacetylene could be converted to Dicyanoacetylene. After stating this
question, he stated that he was "asking for a friend" who, get this - wanted to make a "torch" out of Dicyanoacetylene and Ozone. - what?!?!
Is that even possible? Even if you could isolate either one of these substances (pure, even) in a mass high enough to validate their use in a "torch",
wouldn't they just detonate on contact, blowing the whole thing apart? What's even scarier is that this would likely be done in a domestic, casual
setting with little safety precautions taken by the operator(s)... who knows what this individual has done already, with ambitions such as these!
This is one type of kewl I have not encountered before.
Of course, I offered my concerns in an urgent manner, and hope that this person doesn't do along with their plans.
SWIM - 8-1-2018 at 10:55
There is such a thing, and he no doubt found it because Wikipedia says it makes the hottest flame.
They also say it's a hell of a dienophile.
This guy hasn't been doing any thinking. He just found the 'hottest flame', and decided ozone instead of oxygen would be better because, NEEDS MOAR!!
Probably figures he can buy a tank of ozone down at Home Depot.
EDIT: Just looked up some acetylene compounds. Boy that dichloroacetylene is some mean stuff!
[Edited on 8-1-2018 by SWIM]
woelen - 8-1-2018 at 23:45
Yes, dichloroacetylene indeed is nasty stuff. I once made some of this by accident. it spontaneously ignited in contact with air, giving a very dirty
deep orange flame with incredible amounts of soot.
Melgar - 11-1-2018 at 21:23
Tell him that the reaction between dicyanoacetylene and anti-oxygen is much hotter, and he should pursue that instead. 
Reboot - 12-1-2018 at 05:13
Acetylene itself produces a remarkably dirty flame without enough oxidizer available; all those happy pi bonds looking for a home causes a lot of
polymerization. Which I'm told is why razor blades last longer these days. :-)
The story I heard was that a guy thought he had seen a flicker of something glittering in the soot from an acetylene flame, which turned out to be
microscopic diamonds. That led to the idea that diamond can easily form without high pressure, at least in a half-arsed way, which led to
polymorphous diamond coatings (where carbon is basically electroplated onto metal in a vacuum.) The tech was developed by NASA to create
longer-wearing parts that wouldn't need lubrication, but eventually it got cheap enough to use in consumer goods. Notably, in razor blades (where it
protects the surface from rusting without blunting the blade the way, say, a polymer coating would.) The method is also used on various 'gray'
colored Apple products to increase the scratch resistance of the aluminum. So if you find yourself wondering why iPhones cost so much, some of them
really are coated with diamonds. :-)
[Edited on 12-1-2018 by Reboot]