4 ms·

Discussion here of the making of explosives brought back memories. A guy at school used to nick nitric acid (edit: and sulphuric) and glycerine from the chemist

Discussion here of the making of explosives brought back memories. A guy at school used to nick nitric acid (edit: and sulphuric) and glycerine from the chemistry lab and make guess-what. No, the chemistry teacher didn't know and would have strangled us had he discovered. Well, it turns out to be hard to make, being very exothermic, and it usually just burnt itself up (brown fumes). Failure provoked him into trying for progressively larger amounts, and we would just get closer and closer to it losing all caution. His one success was a very small amount that embedded pieces of the glass container into our study walls. Everything else, especially including the larger amounts just failed – it really is very exothermic. And we would be standing around this right up close. The angel of very very very very stupid children put in a lot of overtime. If I could I would reach back through time and punch us both in the face.

ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
I knew a guy that had his left hand blown off, by a bottle of nitroglycerine. He picked it up, and, boom.
- _a_a_a_ 4y ago
  Sure it was that? NG is terrifyingly unstable, harsh words can set it off. I couldn't conceive of it being bottled without a stabilising agent added. At least he only lost his hand :/
  - ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
    That's what he told me. He also said that he didn't keep it in an ice bath, which, I guess, you're supposed to do. William Friedkin used the instability of nitro as the basis for his movie Sorcerer[0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorcerer_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorcerer_(film)
    - _a_a_a_ 4y ago
      I'll keep an eye out for the film, thanks.
      - ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
        Wasn't really that great, but I've always liked Roy Scheider, and I liked the Tangerine Dream soundtrack (which was actually pretty incongruous).
kbelder 4y ago
With very small changes, that describes me and my friends doing the exact same thing in our dorm in our youth. Wouldn't be OSU would it?
- _a_a_a_ 4y ago
  = The Ohio State University? Nah, this was the UK, Surrey. Also was school, so pre-uni.
jandrewrogers 4y ago
Making nitroglycerin requires fairly strict temperature control while running the reaction. Ignoring this aspect is a common rookie mistake. If it gets too warm, the nitric acid will essentially auto-catalyze its own decomposition (the brown fumes), which is never pleasant and ruins the reaction. Being too aggressive with the cooling has other issues. I think amateurs underestimate the importance of temperature control when trying to synthesize chemicals. There is a lot more too it than mixing ingredients like a cocktail.

ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago

I knew a guy that had his left hand blown off, by a bottle of nitroglycerine. He picked it up, and, boom.

_a_a_a_ 4y ago
Sure it was that? NG is terrifyingly unstable, harsh words can set it off. I couldn't conceive of it being bottled without a stabilising agent added. At least he only lost his hand :/
- ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
  That's what he told me. He also said that he didn't keep it in an ice bath, which, I guess, you're supposed to do. William Friedkin used the instability of nitro as the basis for his movie Sorcerer[0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorcerer_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorcerer_(film)
  - _a_a_a_ 4y ago
    I'll keep an eye out for the film, thanks.
    - ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
      Wasn't really that great, but I've always liked Roy Scheider, and I liked the Tangerine Dream soundtrack (which was actually pretty incongruous).

kbelder 4y ago

With very small changes, that describes me and my friends doing the exact same thing in our dorm in our youth. Wouldn't be OSU would it?

_a_a_a_ 4y ago
= The Ohio State University? Nah, this was the UK, Surrey. Also was school, so pre-uni.

jandrewrogers 4y ago

Making nitroglycerin requires fairly strict temperature control while running the reaction. Ignoring this aspect is a common rookie mistake. If it gets too warm, the nitric acid will essentially auto-catalyze its own decomposition (the brown fumes), which is never pleasant and ruins the reaction. Being too aggressive with the cooling has other issues. I think amateurs underestimate the importance of temperature control when trying to synthesize chemicals. There is a lot more too it than mixing ingredients like a cocktail.