Slimz
Hazard to Others
Posts: 123
Registered: 18-9-2007
Member Is Offline
Mood: Inquisitive
|
|
Dubious ?
I just read a "method" for making white phosphorus that included urine and bone meal and a very hot fire... I have no need for white phosphorus but i
was just wondering if it was completely dubious.. here is the excerpt
--------------------------------clip----------------------------------------
Back a couple decades ago there was a book on magic that had a method for
producing white phosphorus "at home" - which works, I've tried it. You
use a variation on the alchemists method of reducing bone meal with
carbon compounds in an iron retort. The retort is made from a pipe
nipple, and endcap, and a bell reducer, coupled to an iron pipe to use
aas a condenser. It's easy to make, but -CAUTION-, as it bears a lot of
resemblance to a pipe bomb, and my guess is that the local authorities
would never believe the difference.
Anyway, you mix bone meal with charcoal and syrupy evaporated urine, then
wet the sstuff with sulfuric acid and roll it into little balls. You put
the balls into the retort, build a roaring fire around it - it needs to
get to bright orange heat - and condense the white phosphorus in a bucket
of water. You have to be careful to 1) not get poisoned, WP is extremely
dangerous, 2) not suck back water and cause a steam explosion, 3) not
plug up the condenser and make a real pipe bomb out of the thing, and
finally, 4) not immolate yourself in the fire.
--------------------------------end clip------------------------
The only reason i ask is because its sounds like something that a 13yo kid would blow himself up trying...
[Edited on 19-9-2007 by Slimz]
|
|
|
Polverone
Now celebrating 21 years of madness
Posts: 3186
Registered: 19-5-2002
Location: The Sunny Pacific Northwest
Member Is Offline
Mood: Waiting for spring
|
|
It's not completely dubious. But it is flawed: starting from urine instead of more appropriate compounds introduces unnecessary work, and the
procedure as given does not contain enough information to make the process work without a lot of additional reading and/or trial and error
experimentation. We have a stickied thread on phosphorus production that you should read. Short summary: the mildest methods for producing small amounts of phosphorus at
home are reducing molten alkali metaphosphates with active metals, or reducing lead phosphate with hydrogen. Producing phosphorus in a small arc
furnace is also possible but involves more extreme conditions and probably more device fabrication.
PGP Key and corresponding e-mail address
|
|
|
|
![[*]](images/xpblue/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
