cyclonitepyro
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The curious case of the missing lead azide
Here's a question. If one were to leave a small tupperware container of wet lead azide with water just covering the top of the azide, say..., in the
a crevice of a stump and left it there all winter, would the freezing temperatures cause the azide to detonate from expansion of ice pressing on the
crystals?
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mabuse_
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"Look Mummy, I found a geocache!" - Kaboom.
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Fossil
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Most likely not as the cold temperatures should reduce its sensitivity. Don't take my word on this though, since i have never done this before (why
would anybody?).
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cyclonitepyro
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i don't think cold would matter much for sensitivity with azide. Anyone else have dreams about lead azide being so fine some goes right through
coffee filter. Crystals so small when i hit it with a hammer it won't even go off?
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SWIM
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Lead azide has enough solubility in water that over months the crystals would grow considerably.
Do lead azide crystals develop sufficient internal stress in large sizes to become more sensitive, or even just go off on their own?
(I know this is an old post, but if I'm right this really requires some comment for safety's sake.)
Edit: Dr Mabuse's point is pretty damned important too.
Leaving lead azide where others can find it, especially if its unlabeled, is pretty sketchy.
[Edited on 26-10-2021 by SWIM]
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ManyInterests
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| Quote: | Edit: Dr Mabuse's point is pretty damned important too.
Leaving lead azide where others can find it, especially if its unlabeled, is pretty sketchy. |
And more importantly, if they even know what lead azide even is. Before getting into energetics I had no idea about any primary explosives and only
heard of what a 'number 8 blasting cap' is without even knowing what it is (I know now, but I don't know what the other blasting cap numbers even
mean. I.E Number 3 or Number 10, etc).
I'm going to link this incredibly cheesy (but still extremely important) film from the 1950s that educated children to never, ever touch a blasting
cap.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn8-rbRMV1k
But I am a little curious as to why you'd want to store the stuff like that?
[Edited on 27-10-2021 by ManyInterests]
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MineMan
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In mining towns in the 1890s literally every day a kid lost an eye or finger
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