hodges
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Energetic Materials Experiments Article
I ran across this article this morning. Has some pretty neat experiments. I don't believe this has been posted here before.
http://www.sas.org/E-Bulletin/2003-05-16/chem/body.html
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chloric1
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Yeh Thats good
I recently discovered www.sas.org. There really useful procedures like this. My favorite is the "ammonium sulfide proceedure". You make the H2S by heating
sulfur with paraffin. You could do this in a large test tube with a gas outlet tube. You could make Hydriodic acid as well as other sulfides quite
easily this way. Buy the way I really dig the potassium nitrate with sulfur reactions. I could just imagine the sounds. Also if you can get
ammonium perchlorate, mix this with granulated sugar and add some potassium nitrate. WHOOOSHH!!
Fellow molecular manipulator
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hodges
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I am tempted to try the nitrogen trichloride electrolysis one. But something does not seem right. According to CRC, the density of nitrogen
trichloride is 1.63. So how would those drops possibly float to the top? It seems they would sink to the bottom, possibly accumulating to dangerous
amounts.
According to the equation in the article, it takes 6 moles of chlorine ions to produce 1 mole of NCl3. Since chlorine has a charge of -1, it would
take 6 moles of electrons to produce one mole of NCl3, assuming 100% efficiency. 6 moles of electons is 6 * 27 = 162 ampere-hours. And a mole of
NCl3 weighs 14 + 35 * 3 = 119 grams. So for every ampere-hour of current you get 119/162 = 0.73 grams of NCl3. Thus you can see that for every
minute you run an amp of current through the solution, you get about 0.01 grams maximum of NCl3. It seems to me there would not be all that much
danger by letting a current of 1 amp flow for say 5 minutes. That would produce no more than about 0.05g of NCl3. I doubt that amount could
seriously injure anyone, unless they put their face in front of it or something. If I had a place to work outside I would do this and use a long
enough wire that I could be a reasonable distance away. But I'm guessing that if my calculations are correct and you keep the amounts small
enough, it can be done safely. I've made fulminating silver several times - something even 125 year-old chemistry books advise against doing. I
just keep the amounts way down. Perhaps I'm different from most people here because of my age. But it I would be scared to make (say) a few
grams of acetone peroxide. Because I know that could kill or seriously injure me if it went off unexpectedly. OTOH, if I'm making 200 mg of
Ag3N or NI3.NH3 and it goes off unexpectedly, I'm not likely to be hurt. I'm more interested in the substances themselves than in doing
demolition work. So I have no problem with keeping the amounts small.
Anyway, if anyone does try the NCl3 one please share your experiences. I searched the web and am unable to find any videos involving NCl3. I can
find videos of just about every other explosive substance though.
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hodges
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Copper Acetylide
I tried the article's copper acetylide synthesis without success. I added fine Cu powder, created by electrolysis, to a CuSO4 solution to.
After allowing several minutes to react, I filtered out the Cu. I think the problem occurred at this point. The solution was still blue, whereas if
the copper had been reduced to Cu(1) it would have been clear. I added NH4OH slowly until the precipitate that first formed dissolved.
I bubbled acetylene through this solution and got a black precipitate. I figured this was probably not copper acetylide, since that is supposed to be
red. I let some of it dry and it had no reaction whatsoever to flame. I'm guessing it was CuO.
I have never had any luck with copper acetylides. I've tried bubbling acetylene through CuSO4 solution, with and without NH4OH. I always end up
with a black, unreactive precipitate (likely CuO). OTOH I have always been successful with the silver acetylides.
I think copper acetylide is pretty tricky to make. Has anyone ever made it successfully?
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hodges
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I tried electrolysis of an acidified (with HCl) NH4Cl solution. In sort of a half-assed way, but I was not going to risk making very much of it since
I have to work inside.
I allowed a current of 0.25 amps to flow through the solution, using carbon rods, for several minutes. After that, I took a look at the solution.
The top looked a bit oiley, but it didn't look yellow that I could tell. I eventually let the electrolysis run for about 30 minutes, which
should have produced somewhere around 0.1g of NCl3. The smell was gross - kind of like a cross between BO and a dirty swimming pool. I could not see
anything yellow in the solution. The solution did continue slowly bubbling on its own, though, long after I turned off the current.
I took a popsicle stick and taped it to a broom handle - then sprayed WD40 on the popsicle stick and dipped it into the electrolysis solution.
Nothing happened. I then sprayed some WD40 into the solution, again nothing happened. I turned the current back on and increased it to around 1 amp.
Still nothing happening that I could see.
I'm guessing there was just too little NCl3 to do anything. Judging by the small, most of it ended up as vapor instead of liquid.  Fortunately, the smell went away fairly quickly (a lot more easily than Cl2 does).
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Zinc
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| Quote: | Originally posted by hodges
I can find videos of just about every other explosive substance though. |
To hodges: What is the adress of the web page where you find the videos?
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simply RED
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Also if you can get ammonium perchlorate, mix this with granulated sugar and add some potassium nitrate. WHOOOSHH!!
Potassium nitrate affects the mix?
When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead...
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a_bab
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@hodges: here is a chemical way of obtaining NCl3. It allows for tens of grams ammounts, so be carefull. I got it from E&W forum; it was posted by
a russian member. Here it is:
"There is another method of NCl3 producing : from NaOCl , CH3COOH and NH4NO3(any ammonium salt)
The reaction is:
3NaOCl + 2CH3COOH + NH4NO3 = NaNO3 + 2CH3COONa + NCl3 + 3H2O
The reaction doesnt need any control - you just mix the solutions and wait 1-2hours , besides you dont need to work with gaseous chlourine A 5-7%
NaOCl solution is used in Russia as a bleach
the methodmake it outdoors because of extremely bad smell!!!)
reactives :
300ml of 5-7% NaOCl solution ,
50ml of 70% CH3COOH
solution of 10gNH4NO3 in 30ml of water
1)cool the solutions in refredgerator (about -10C)
2) pour 300ml NaOCl into a 0.5l plastic bottle(cola)
3) add 25ml of CH3COOH to NaOCl by small parts
4) add the ammonium nitrate solution to the bottle by small parts(extremely bad smell ! the solution must become yellow)
5) add 25ml CH3COOH to the bottle by small parts
6) leave the bottle(dont close it !) for 1-2 hours The solution must become colourless and a yellow-orange liquid must gather on the bottom (about
10g)
Then close the bottle and throw it somewhere"
As Zinc said, what's the page where you have found videos of "every explosives"?
[Edited on 15-6-2006 by a_bab]
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Organikum
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| Quote: |
You make the H2S by heating sulfur with paraffin.
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I don´t know about how this works with sulfur but when making HI from iodine and for example collophonium
one really MUST mix at least 1/1 w/w sand in or one is up for some bad experience as this reaction tends to get out of contol otherwise.
/ORG
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hodges
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| Quote: | Originally posted by a_bab
As Zinc said, what's the page where you have found videos of "every explosives"?
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Well there is no one site, but I see plenty of other explosives and energetic reactions represented at various sites. Here are a few:
http://www.powerlabs.org/chemlabs/index.html
http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu/jcesoft/cca/cca0/MOVIES/NI3IOD....
http://www.ilpi.com/genchem/demo/thermite/index.html
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neutrino
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| Quote: | Originally posted by a_bab
@hodges: here is a chemical way of obtaining NCl3. It allows for tens of grams ammounts, so be carefull. I got it from E&W forum; it was posted by
a russian member. Here it is:
"There is another method of NCl3 producing : from NaOCl , CH3COOH and NH4NO3(any ammonium salt) |
Organics + NCl<sub>3</sub> = explosion. I would be weary of this synthesis.
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a_bab
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Organics, yes, but more likely stuff like grease, benzene etc.
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Elawr
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Copper Acetylide
Regarding the copper acetylide preparation: In my limited experience, I have not observed the reduction of aqueous Cu++ to Cu+ by metallic Cu in the
presence of SO4--. Certainly not the vigorous change I find so entertaining with the chloride - where even coarsely divided Cu scrub pads rapidly
decolorize the deep green solution while pretty little crystals of CuCl are thrown down. I have always presumed that Cu+ and sulfate ion are not
mutually compatable in aquo. you can have cupric and sulfate together or cuprous and sulfite, but not not cuprous and sulfate as far as ions in the
aqueous mileu are concerned. Please correct me if I am totally wrong - the few post I've made so far seem to have been well-tolerated so I'm getting a
little braver!!
[Edited on 16-6-2006 by Elawr]
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Elawr
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Yeh Thats good
Yeah.. I did that too recently. Made a vessel for heating the sulfur and wax out of a small paint can to which I soldered a length of 1/4" copper
line through which the H2S was led into an aqueous ammonia solution in a PET pop bottle. Did your product come out yellow ish to orange?? I got no
crystals, although later the liquid compund partially solidified into a colorless crystalline mass with little residual odor. This is consistent with
what I've read concerning the nature of ammoniacal sulfides. Having done little effort to keep air off my product, I believe it simply oxidized.
[Edited on 16-6-2006 by Elawr]
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