Artzillonaire

Calling this science forums and then using moderators that clearly don't understand science and having rules that restrict or ban the dissemination of scientific knowledge is an oxymoron. All the things you ask about can be done without electricity or anything all that fancy. Without laboratory glassware and proper thermometers it becomes more difficult but far from impossible. Making black powder is very easy and all the ingredients are easily located or produced virtually everywhere that any level of technology is at hand. Making nitroglycerin, nitrocellulose or guncotton and other high explosives is also quite easy. Even making primer materials is relatively easy. No special cooling is needed. Cool water from a mountain spring will work perfectly, but cold tapwater is just fine! And other methods also work if cool water isn't available. Charcoal is obvious. KNO³ or potassium nitrate can easily be leached from bat shit or reacted brick morter or even graveyard dirt! Sulfur can be obtained from pool chemicals, by burning iron ore, and many other sources. H²SO⁴ or sulfuric acid can be obtained from car batteries. Nitric acid is the hardest. But one good way in a pinch is to get nitrous oxide from a dentists office and pass it over a damp bed of heated quick lime. Bubble it into a beaker of mineral oil. A red oily liquid will build up under the oil. That's nitric acid. Both the nitric and sulfuric acids will need to be concentrated quite a bit before they will work to make guncotton or nitroglycerin. Primer can be made with nothing but concentrated nitric acid and mercury! Just thirty years ago it was common for boys with a scientific bent to make and experiment with these things. They are dangerous but they are no where near the world ending hazards that some here make of them! I did all these things when I was a kid. Fooling around with these things is still completely legal in the USA. Just don't get any crazy ideas or make a huge stockpile.... If you want more info feel free to contact me. I can tell you every aspect of recreating basic technology in an apocalyptic scenario.