Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Impact sensitive

JJ - 30-11-2003 at 10:42

Dose any one know what substance is in
Bang snaps?(a small firwork that makes a snap! when thrown on a hard surface)they are composed of a crystal like substance twisted up in a small piece of tissue paper. Just something that came up in a conversation with a close friend and now its driving me nuts!

hmmm..

Mr.O-Nitrate - 30-11-2003 at 10:45

I use to know but I forgot.

I would say it could be a mix of Potassium chlorate and sugar?

Then it is coated onto those rough rocks for the friction.

:cool:

bang snaps

Mr. Wizard - 30-11-2003 at 10:52

IIRC they contain 'fulminating silver' which is not the same as Silver Fulminate.

There was an old potassium chlorate / red phosphorus pyrotechnic mix that was used in similar toy. They were much more powerful, and dangerous.

Blaster - 30-11-2003 at 12:00

You can make your own quite easily, don't use the fulminate, use silver acetylide, made by passing acetylene through a solution of silver nitrate and ammonia. A dense precipitate forms which can be filtered and dried. Mix the dried prec with grit to increase sensitivity (carefully!). The ones I've made are more like bang grenades than snaps!!!;)

Haggis - 30-11-2003 at 12:43

Wizard: Those Chlorate/RP ones you speak of are called 'Torpedos'. I have made a version of them using a similar mixture, and they are, indeed very sensitive and quite scary for that reason, which is the same reason I stopped playing with them.

Blaster: There was some mention in an old Skylighter bulliten of silver acetylide bang snaps. The guy would take, IIRC, a paper towel, pour in a scoop of pea gravel, then a bit of SA, and twist up the end. They were reportedly quite higher powered by the 'snap-n-pops'.
Impact sensitivity, a novelty that will eventually cost you your fingertips.

Torpedos

Mr. Wizard - 30-11-2003 at 16:34

Haggis,
I do remember them being called torpedos. I just wasn't sure. They are to be avoided, as any chlorate RP mix!

bang snaps

tom haggen - 11-12-2003 at 10:51

when i was younger like 10 or something i unraveled like 80 of those bang snaps(fulminating silver). and filled a film container full of them. I was going to drop it from a 3 story window, and friction intervened, .0002 seconds later it felt like it got hit on the finger tip with a ball pien hammer

PinkFire - 11-12-2003 at 17:02

With the assistance of someone more experienced and more properly equipped I made impact torpedoes with a 50-50 mixture of KClO3 and Sb2S3. I was warned many times about the sensitivity of the mixture yet still managed to have one go off as it left my hand. It was an interesting experiment, at least.

flashpoint - 16-12-2003 at 22:54

What your referring to I'm guessing, could also be, Nitrogen Triiodide, I do believe...which there is a synthesis for it in the crapbook. Which is where a lot of kids, end up referring to, and blowing a finger/arm off, there is another reference at megalomania's site here that has better choices than the crap book as far as "keep adding the crystals until they won't add anymore", that just doesn't seem right to me, I hear they are very sensitive to friction and leave Iodine stains, anywhere from brown to purple, the stains do go away when the Iodine sublimes, I do believe.

::EDIT:: Forgot to mention, it goes by the name of ammonium triiodide as well.

[Edited on 17-12-2003 by flashpoint]

[Edited on 17-12-2003 by flashpoint]

flashpoint - 16-12-2003 at 22:55

By the way, I typed in the name and pulled up this site, showing how sensitive it is, by showing you how it can be detonated. Scary.

http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu/JCESoft/CCA/CCA0/MOVIES/NI3IOD....


Set off by the touch of a feather, literally!

Mumbles - 17-12-2003 at 18:29

Really now, those posts were a minute apart. You could of just edited them into the first one. It shows you edited a few times so it's obvious you know how to.

There is no way that NI<sub>3</sub> is in the bang snaps. They would go off in the package without a doubt. That compound is far to sensitive for any practical use other than demonstration. Perhaps scaring a person now and then.

I've personally always heard that it is silver fulminate, not fulminating silver. Let me go see if we still have a package left over from last 4th of July.

This site shows the use of Silver Fulminate:
http://www.pyrouniverse.com/consumer/howtheywork.htm

http://www.unitednuclear.com/database.htm

[Edit] No go on the package

[Edited on 12-18-2003 by Mumbles]

flashpoint - 17-12-2003 at 19:04

You are correct. Yeah I didn't feel like clustering that all in there. :)

overseer - 1-1-2004 at 02:03

I agree nitrogen triiodide cannot be the substance. When I tried to synthesize some for demonstration purposes, using very pure chemicals, as soon as the ammonia evaporated, the crystals started to do "pap" and "crack" all by themselves, just standing in the vessel. There are several recipes for bang snaps, however, and the most frequently encountered one is made with Ag-fulminate. Hg-fulminate can be used, with good results, but should be avoided because of extreme toxicity of free Hg which is liberated on explosion. Upon ignition of a minute amount of Hg-fulminate, one immediately sees a beautiful shining metallic "mirror" of free Hg around the ignition site. The air around would contain lots of free Hg as well, so don't inhale it!

Peroxyacetone is also impact-sensitive and much easier to make, but in order to make the device safe, only very small amounts should be used. However, when I tried this a long time ago, PA disappeared from the paper package the next day. My guess was that it either evaporated or degraded into other volatile compounds. Later, I confirmed this by letting a small amount of PA stand in the air: the amount was continuously reduced and finally completely disappeared in a week. This does not happen to fulminates.

you are searching for torpedoes !

qashimalik - 18-1-2004 at 07:22

jj
u might be looking for torpedoes.consult this book
"THE CHEMISTRY OF POWDER AND EXPLOSIVES."
by Tenny L. Devis
it has a detailed on pyrotechnic devices where u can find its construction.
bye.
qashi_duzz@hotmail.com

FrKoNaLeaSh101 - 18-1-2004 at 11:12

I always thought that it was silver acetylide in the small bang snaps....it was coated onto rocks...unless i am mistaken

[Edited on 18-1-2004 by FrKoNaLeaSh101]

Dont even get me started bout AP!!

Iv4 - 20-1-2004 at 02:36

AP/PA/meh is no where near sensitive enough for that and btw when mixed with AL it's no where near safe enough to keep around(foudn it out the hard way round 4 days ago)..

Jsmooth744 - 30-1-2004 at 12:22

Quote:
Originally posted by Haggis
Wizard: Those Chlorate/RP ones you speak of are called 'Torpedos'. I have made a version of them using a similar mixture, and they are, indeed very sensitive and quite scary for that reason, which is the same reason I stopped playing with them.

Torpedos are made of KClO3/antimony trisulfide too.

Blaster: There was some mention in an old Skylighter bulliten of silver acetylide bang snaps. The guy would take, IIRC, a paper towel, pour in a scoop of pea gravel, then a bit of SA, and twist up the end. They were reportedly quite higher powered by the 'snap-n-pops'.
Impact sensitivity, a novelty that will eventually cost you your fingertips.

torpedo hazard reminder

Mr. Wizard - 7-2-2004 at 19:14

I went to the radio amateur swap meet today and saw an old ham (60+ years) who was missing all his left hand and had two fingers attached to his right wrist. He used to sell brochures on making RP & PC torpedos at the swap meet. I asked him what happened. One slip and he can't wipe his ass anymore. BTW he was always 'very careful'. Keep your experiments small and safe. We don't need any more one eyed one handed chemists.

IgnorantlyIntelligent - 8-2-2004 at 19:59

I was bored one day so I put 6g of AP between two quarters and taped the brim. I threw it with all my might up into the air........nothing happend. I picked the lil thing up and tried again this time throwing it more vertical(about a 75 degree angle) and it worked. It was loud as hell being only a couple feet away from me on the other side of a 10 foot high wall(you dont think I'd let it detonate right infront of me do yeh?) I hate AP and wouldn't use it for anything but it did work. Use Lead styphnate instead. Peroxides suck.