lucky123
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Myth Busters Nitro?
I saw the otherday myth busters episode were they mixed up some nitroglycerine. If was a brownish color in the episode (why I guess not purrified
perhaps?) and was tested by impact with a remote control hammer device and a small amount went poof. My question is:
I though nitro is sennsitive but I saw them taking a metal spoon and spooning it out of a pyrex measuring cup for the experiment. I though just glass
touching together when pouring could detonate from things I've read but they use a spoon and just scooped it out like pudding. Is nitro not as
sensitive as its made out to be? If its droped from 5 feet would it detonate on impact and how does it stack up against acetone peroxide since
peroxide coumpounds are quite unpredictable in nature many say and dangerous. One last question I want to ask all of you is... I have a friend who
says ap will not detonate when wet. And when done with filtering takes and squeezes the liquid out of the ap in his hands with the ap in the filter
paper. I worry that the crystals will detonate since he is applying a lot of pressure on the crystal... Should he be concered of a possible
detonation?
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DNA
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Nitroglycerine is actually quite stable, it is not true that one can throw a bottle against a wall and it will explode.
ALTHOUGH IT IS UNSTABLE WHEN FROZEN PARTLY! in this case one would have crystals mixed with liquid and then it can detonate readily.
But as I sayd before you need to hit it with a hammer when soacked into cotton and then still you need a fair blow. Nitroglycerine is more like a very
little bit more viscous then water. I do not know what you mean with scooping as I associate that with some kind of goo. AP will not detonate when wet
it will just deflagrate or burn.I wouldn't squeeze liquid out with my hands (use a buchner and wash it really well afterworths). Peroxides are in the
overall very unstable so why am I actually telling you this, just do not make acetoneperoxide it is VERY unstable, if you really really want to make
it do not make more then 500mg. He should be concerned when the acetoneperoxide is dry since he applied a lot of pressure. When dry it might be too
much pressure.
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ScienceGeek
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"...brought his friend to refine a premium blend from another explosive that contains a high proportion of nitroglycerin"
This is a quote from that episode of Mythbusters (Season 5, episode 4)
This means that it's not nitroglycerine that is used in the show, just another high- explosive with a large content of nitroglycerin. That's why the
it is a brownish liquid, instead of clear, and also why it's not as sensitive as "regular" nitroglycerin.
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gregxy
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I think that the Mythbusters took smokeless powder and used a solvent to extract the NG from it. The brown color
was probably from some coloring agent used in the powder
and had little effect on the properties of the NG.
Primaries like acetone peroxide CAN detonate when wet. The water just reduces the flamibility and sensitivity to
static electricity.
As little as 200mg going off between your fingers will blow them off. Personally I would not "contain" AP between my fingers.
[Edited on 6-3-2008 by gregxy]
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rbick
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The difference comes in with NG being classified as a secondary explosive and AP as a primary. NG is indeed extremely sensitive, in comparison to
other secondary explosives like TNT and RDX. It could be considered insensitive however to primaries like organic peroxides, fulminates and other
primaries. This doesn't mean it shouldn't be treated with respect, but it shouldn't be feared to the point of not trying to synthesize some as long as
proper safety precautions are followed.
I personally conducted a hammer test with my last batch of NG. The surface was smooth concrete and two drops of NG was placed on a coffee filter from
an eye dropper. The NG had been throughly washed in bicarb solution. I hit it once with no detonation. This was not an easy blow either, I put some
force behind it. It detonated on the second try. So while it is sensitive, it won't detonate randomly, unless it is partially frozen or isn't washed
well enough and there is residual acid.
If the NG was "scooped", I'm assuming there was one if not a number of other nitro esters dissolved in the NG. For example, NC is commonly used with
NG to create blasting gelatin.
AP should never be squeezed. Thats just my personal opinion, but I don't trust it at all! Those O-O bonds in the aromatic structure are just asking to
be broken. To dry AP, I let it drip dry and then place it by a window for a day or two and its good to go. I don't like touching it, ever.
p=plenty
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Intergalactic_Captain
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It's been a bit since I've seen that episode, but the color could have come from drain-cleaner sulfuric acid. Back when I was pumping out HE's, EGDN
was my hands-down favorite - Rooto was the acid that I used, and I always ended up with a product that was clear->yellow tint. However, on one run
for supplies, I couldn't get rooto and had to use "Liquid Lightning" (from walmart, only one they carry)...The EGDN came out blood-red due to the dyes
in the acid, needless to say it scared the shit out of me - I thought I was looking at a NOx catalyzed explosive breakdown waiting to happen...A
handful of urea took care of it, but regardless the batch was "disposed of" in short order to quell the paranoia.
Another point, were they using USP glycerine? I'm not sure what the contaminants in industrial glycerine are, but some sugars may nitrate to a brown
goo.
Final point, if they wouldn't let Adam jump off the roof for insurance reasons, why in the hell would they let the build crew make a federally listed
high explosive, without proper training, apparati, licensing, etc...In the building! I find it equally likely that the brown goo they made is just
that, brown goo floating on an acid bath to trick the audience into saying they made nitro.
If you see me running, try to keep up.
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Bert
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Having watched such an episode, which was to de-bunk the blowing up of NG dermal patches by defibrilator, I can vouch for the bomb tech having
extracted NG from either smokeless powder or an NG based blasting explosive. Procedure involved adding a solvent and filtering off a solid, then
drying solvent. One may wonder what other ingredients might dissolve in the solvent, and how dry they bothered to get the resulting extract.
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toastman
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what i want to know is what solvent they use
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Bert
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Annything with a good solvency towards NG and a poor one to NC.
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