Look what I found online!

[james_davis_nicoll]

Comments

[lederhosen.livejournal.com]

Back when my friends and I were in our high school pyromaniac nerd phase, we nagged our chemistry teacher to show us some of the pyrotechnic reactions we'd read about. To her credit, she decided that if she demonstrated a few, we'd be less likely to go and try them at home, so we got to see thermite, sugar + H2SO4, and Al + I + H2O.

Then we asked her about touch powder (nitrogen tri-iodide...)

"I'm not going to do that one, it's too dangerous. But you should ask Mr. Werner [physics teacher] about that."

So we went off and asked him:

"What? How did she know about that? Who told her about that? And it's not true!"

Turns out, when Mr. W. was a lad, he swiped some school lab supplies and started making NI3 in his parents' garage. You mix it up as a liquid and paint it on a surface; when it dries, you get an extremely shock-sensitive crystal.

Most kids are content to paint it on doorknobs etc; in normal quantities, it just goes bang and leaves an iodine stain on your fingers. But Mr. W. was more ambitious. He painted it onto newspaper, let it dry, and then VERY GENTLY scraped it into glass jars so he could keep it for later use.

This ended in fairly predictable fashion that required having the science teacher come in to de-explodify what was left of the garage.

[bunsen-h.livejournal.com]

Some years ago, the head of the chemistry department at Carleton U began his "Magic with Chemistry" show by sprinkling damp NI₃ on the auditorium steps farthest from the front of the hall. Anyone who tried to come in quietly after he'd started got the snap-crackle-pop underfoot and the embarrassing attention of everyone in the room. In retrospect, it was a rather dangerous stunt... but he did tend to live dangerously.

I played with model rocketry when I was young, but just using commercial solid-fuel engines. I've still got most of my equipment and I'd like to try using it again. I probably should be very very careful with those old engines.

[rwpikul.livejournal.com]

I, thankfully, was one of those who knew enough to know how stupid taking advantage of that knowledge would be.

This did not apply to one of my friends, who would pester me from time to time for things to try. One time I gave in and told him how to make an explosive, leaving out the rather critical step of adding nitric acid to the urea solution.

Yes he tried to make it, inside, no he didn't ask for any more recipes[1]. Mind you, he would still go on to head out into the woods to hunt deer with a Rambo knife[2].


[1] For those who don't know: The easiest way to get a concentrated urea solution without raiding the chemical supply room is to boil urine.

[2] You see why I was more than willing to do that to him.