potassium permanganate

[jdurg]

the most notable part in that demo was the use of Red iron oxide? the thermit I had was nothing like that at all' date=' it was all silvery and granular like coarse sand and extremely heavy!

 

Interesting! [/quote']

 

 

You know, every thermite I've ever seen has used red iron oxide (rust) and not the black oxide (magnetite). It looks like there is a difference in the activation energy required to get everything started. I have also seen instances where powdered magnesium was mixed in there as well in order to make the thermite easier to ignite. I'd be a bit wary about that, however, as powdered magnesium is VERY easy to ignite and burns quite intensely, so if one did try that there's a good chance that they wouldn't have enough time to get far enough back. That's what makes the KMnO4/Glycerine starter a nice one. It's got a built in delay which allows the person who started the reaction to get far enough away.

[jowrose]

Where do you get glycerine? I know it's in some soaps and some other household products, but where is a pure enough source for the KMnO4 reaction?

[jdurg]

Take a whole bunch of animal fat and mix it with some powdered NaOH. Let this steep for a little while and the pure glycerine will move to the top as the soap settles down at the bottom. This is probably the easiest way to get glycerine and as a side benefit you get your own soap as a side product.

[jowrose]

Where can you get sodium hydroxide? It's in drain cleaners, but that would be a huge pain to separate. Would I have to order it from a chem supply company?

[jdurg]

Nope. You can EASILY find it on E-Bay as it is used EXTENSIVELY in the home soap-making hobby. It's incredibly cheap as well.

[jowrose]

I just bought some. I also bought some glycerine while I was at it. The NaOH will be useful for other things, besides just making glycerine.

 

Now that I have glycerine, how do I make Nitroglycerine?

 

just kidding

[xeluc]

I was intrigued so I threw some olive oil and NaOH into a test tube.. At first the light yellow clear liquid turned into a cloudy white liquid. After sitting a few hours, it is starting ot clump and spot of clear liquid (Should be glycerin) are appearing.Will this settle out completly over a few days? If not, how wqould I go about doing a more complete seperation. I was todl to add HCl, but how would you remove the chloride form the glycerin/water without distilling?

[Ferdinand]

I also use a potassium chlorate and sucrose mix on top of my thermite. One drop of conc sulfuric acid starts the chlorate/sucrose(immediately) and easily sets the thermite off.

[jowrose]

Potassium chlorate? Isn't that the explosive used in WWII hand grenades and stuff like that? Also a main ingredient of plastic explosives? Where on earth'd you get that stuff?

[akcapr]

Hand grenades nor plastic explosives use KClO4. However it is used in smoke grenades.

[YT2095]

it was used in both, except it was called Chedite then, an is nothing like plastique as we know it today.

 

the thermit I has also left a coppery/bronze product and was only a tiny bit magnetic after the burn, as I said it was the proper factory made stuff used for welding train tracks together, in the other end of the tube was a seperate section in which was the magnesium lighting powder.

[jdurg]

Hand grenades nor plastic explosives use KClO4. However it is used in smoke grenades.

 

KClO4 is potassium PERchlorate and not potassium CHLORate.

[jowrose]

"In World War I Potassium Chlorate was the most common type of plastic explosive used, often filling grenades and other munitions."

 

Ok I was wrong about which war, but it was still used.

 

Isn't it very unstable, especially when moisture is introduced?

[YT2095]

chedite`s very difficult to get Moisture into if ya know the formula (I`ll not give it out here) but you`de see Why it`s difficult

and yeah, it loses significant VOD IF moisture gets in OR it gets over time (when made it has a short shelf life).

[jowrose]

What do you mean by VOD?

[YT2095]

VOD or DV = Velocity Of Detonation or Detonation Velocity, respectively.

[jowrose]

So it loses force, but does that affect stability?

[Ferdinand]

When there is a reasonably stocked Chem store in your educational institution and you deal with Reaction Rates and Activation energy in your high school curriculum, KClO3 is in reasonable supply.