Quince
National Hazard
Posts: 773
Registered: 31-1-2005
Location: Vancouver, BC
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Greasy NG ???
I tried nitrating glycerin (from pharmacy) with sulfuric acid (from drain cleaner) and ammonium nitrate (from instant cold packs).
During nitration, there appeared to be a greasy film near the surface (despite stirring). I thought the glycerin dissolves completely in the acid
mix. When I diluted with water for washing, there were a million greasy white blobs. Through washing and neutralizing, some did coalesce into a
large blob, but many did not, or floated to the surface and were lost during decanting. I ended up with NG volume about half that of the added
glycerin.
So, my question is, what chemically could have gone wrong? It seems something greasy was coating the NG blobs preventing them from merging. My only
guesses are that I either added too much glycerin (for the amounts of the other reagents) or there was some impurity. The drain cleaner is very
concentrated acid, as it fumes white immediately when heated, but I suppose the remainer may not be just water. The AN prills from the instant cold
packs were beige in color and moist; I heated them a little in the microwave, which made the prills fragile and I could easily crush them into an
almost white powder. Perhaps the beige color is some impurity.
Any ideas?
Note to administrator: I know you don't like discussion about practical issues, but this is not purely of this type, as I'm asking what
chemical reasons there are for what happened (and, I'm not planning to try this route to NG again anyway, so I'm just curious).
\"One of the surest signs of Conrad\'s genius is that women dislike his books.\" --George Orwell
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Atom
Harmless
Posts: 15
Registered: 1-1-2005
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This happened to me as well. I only got a 4.5 ml back from my original 10 ml of glycerine.
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tom haggen
Hazard to Others
Posts: 488
Registered: 29-11-2003
Location: PNW
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Mood: a better mood
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YOur BusTed. The FBI is at your door. What do you do
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Polverone
Now celebrating 21 years of madness
Posts: 3186
Registered: 19-5-2002
Location: The Sunny Pacific Northwest
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This sort of practical discussion is better suited to the <A HREF="http://www.roguesci.org">Explosives and Weapons Forum</A> or,
if you prefer a more relaxed atmosphere, the <A HREF="http://xsorbit2.com/users/apcforum/index.cgi">Amateur Pyrotechnics and Chemistry
Forum</A>.
PGP Key and corresponding e-mail address
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