Sciencemadness Discussion Board - Fun Reactions from Houshold Reagents

Fun Reactions from Houshold Reagents

ssdd - 21-11-2007 at 18:03

Hello all,

I'm bored and me and a friend are looking for a reaction that has simple/easy to get in America reagents. We are hoping for some flames/smoke, so any ideas are welcome.

We both have a large background in simple pyrotechnics, It's just time for some fresh ideas to do with stuff outside of a lab.

I know this is a kewl question to ask but there arnt to many places to ask such a question or recipes I would trust without someone verifying.

-ssdd

MagicJigPipe - 21-11-2007 at 21:55

Melt equal volumes of potassium nitrate and sugar together and stick a fuse in it while it's still liquid. Roll it into a ball and let it solidify. Don't use a flame. Lots o smoke.

I used to have lots of fun with acetone peroxide. But I wouldn't recommend it now that I look back.

Oh yeah, you can put aluminum foil in some drano (make sure it contains sodium hydroxide) in a coke bottle and put a small amount of air in a balloon, place it on the top of the bottle and let the resulting H2/other gases fill it. When it's that impure it won't float but it will still explode.

I know this stuff is kinda kewl but it's what sparked my interest in chemistry years ago.

And btw, I don't think this forum is the best place for stuff like this so just go use google.

[Edited on 22-11-2007 by MagicJigPipe]

woelen - 22-11-2007 at 01:55

Less kewl, but quite spectacular is the reaction between TCCA and household ammonia. TCCA is swimming pool chlorine, slow release, so-called organic chlorine. It probably also works with hydantoin-based chlorine/bromine tablets. Do not use calcium hypochlorite based tablets.

Take a single tablet and pour some household ammonia on it. Do this OUTSIDE!

http://woelen.scheikunde.net/science/chem/exps/raw_material/...

Be careful with this kind of kewlish experiments. Indeed, they can spark interest in chemistry very much, but don't overdo things and do not scale up to insane quantities. I do not have problems with somewhat kewlish experiments, actually, they can sometimes be quite funny. What I do not like though, is plain-stupid irresponsible behavior, where no effort is made to assess the risks of the experiments. Accidents and irritation in the neighbourhood are the worst things there are for the image of home chemistry. So, have fun, but keep things within reasonable bounds.

MagicJigPipe - 22-11-2007 at 23:53

Place massive amounts of conc. nitric acid, conc. sulfuric acid and dry glycerin into a large aluminum sink with shards of broken glass, nails and used hypodermic needles strewn about in the mixture. And don't forget to place a 55 gallon drum of gasoline in the vicinity. Proceed to light the gas with a match and just stand there and wait for something to happen.

*** Add a huge pile of mixed aluminum powder and potassium perchlorate on top of the drum for added effect!!***

And for those of you on the slow side....
Just kidding... DON'T DO THAT!

[Edited on 23-11-2007 by MagicJigPipe]

guy - 22-11-2007 at 23:59

Wow that Copper(II) - dichlorocyanurate compound looks awesome

feacetech - 23-11-2007 at 11:12

Quote:

Originally posted by MagicJigPipe
Place massive amounts of conc. nitric acid, conc. sulfuric acid and dry glycerin into a large aluminum sink with shards of broken glass, nails and used hypodermic needles strewn about in the mixture.
[Edited on 23-11-2007 by MagicJigPipe]

Cheers that gave me quite the laugh this morning

Chemistry mood and kewl mood

woelen - 23-11-2007 at 11:25

I have two different burners for my home chemistry experiments:

This is the one, when I am in chemistry-mood. It allows safe heating of test tubes and small beakers and erlenmeyers:

This is the one, when I am in kewl-mood. It is perfectly useful for the somewhat bigger stuff, such as evaporating to dryness my 20 kg batch of acetone peroxide.

Edit(woelen): Made link to pictures work again.

[Edited on 30-7-16 by woelen]

MagicJigPipe - 23-11-2007 at 13:28

I've always wanted to make a flame thrower. I thought of placing the fuel in a cylinder that would be pressurized by propane. In that way the propane could be used to eject the fuel and to keep the pilot lit. Seems simple enough but of course it's always dangerous no matter how professional your design is.

12AX7 - 23-11-2007 at 15:01