pyrochemix
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aluminum- nitrate reaction please help
ok im not extremely experienced but i was working with a gunpowder like mixture (charcoal, kno3, ground up matcheads which i think are phosphorous and
potassium perchlorate) and i was soaking it in 25|75 rubbing alcohol cold water mix in order to let the other ingredients soak into the charcoal, i
put it in a aluminum foil makeshift drying sheet and put under 12v lamp to dry, i noticed what looked like liquid aluminum forming in the solution and
immediately i tossed on nitrile gloves , safety glasses and a doctors mask (best safety gear i had readily available) then i looked it up, and found
that damp nitrates and aluminum powder( dunno bout foil) create a nitrate reduction process that creates amides thus making the mixture ready to
explode at any moment (keep in mind this was just testing if this stuff would be good for use it was only 2 drams of powder and 2 of the alcohol
water) anyway i got rid of it nothing exploded but a bit of the solution spilled, i read that aluminum is a neurotoxin in large amounts but i should
be safe when it comes to that, and dust particles act like razors when breathed in or got in eyes (but they were damp so they weren't airborne) as you
can see this was a bit of a mishap and i have the rest of the solution in a small container, im just wondering how worried i should be about all this
*i also had a small cut on middle finger it is possible small amounts of the solution got in it*
I have no degree in chemistry only amateur experience ? should i be worried or rest easy?
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pyrochemix
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P.S. please just reply here or email me blufire687@hotmail.com
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CyrusGrey
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Aluminum is generally passivated by a layer of oxide. A very fine powder is more reactive because of a huge amount of surface area. I don't think
nitrate is going to make any kind of very unstable explosive with even a very fine powder though.
You've only made a solution that is a bit flammible. You could just let it air dry and then you would have a weak gunpowder like mixture like you
said. Just be careful how you set it off.
Also, this is a public forum. Please don't ask for email replies, since that would only give information to you and not anyone else.
If you use the search engine a bit, you could probably find some of the threads where members have suggested some basic pyrotechnical experiments.
Remember to use small amounts.
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pyrochemix
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Thanks then, its not the flammable part its just it could catch on fire and all my work of trying to get kno3 (had to go to an alternative religion
shop to get it) and this is the last of it i was also kinda worried bout the silvery stuff, anyway i dried it on something else, I lost a lot of it in
the process but i got a coffee filter thats like flash paper now! this would work nice if i had a proper method of cakeing a pound of this stuff!,
 sry bout the email thing too
just wanna say now I've finished drying and grinding in mortar and pestle and I`m throughly impressed with myself, im gonna try it for slurry and
caking soon
[Edited on 18-3-2008 by pyrochemix]
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YT2095
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alu really isn`t all that toxic else we wouldn`t have alu pots/pans or foil or trays etc...
the link with Althzeimers is incidental, Causation and Correlation are NOT the same thing.
and Good luck getting Alu nitrate to "Dry", IIRC it`s very hygroscopic and a complete PITA to dry 
\"In a world full of wonders mankind has managed to invent boredom\" - Death
Twinkies don\'t have a shelf life. They have a half-life! -Caine (a friend of mine)
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lavenatti
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Matchheads contain potassium chlorate (not perchlorates and the phosphorus is on the striker), not a smart thing to mortar and pestle with the other
ingredients you've listed. This was probably the most dangerous step of your entire experiment.
A little boric acid dissolved in your water will help prevent the aluminum-nitrate reaction.
The aluminum powder will commonly float up to the surface and look as though it were painted on.
I had read somewhere the aluminum-alzheimers link was due to aluminum contamination in the dies used to study bits of brain tissue.
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