Coloured Smokes

[Phreak]

what can I use to make various coloured smokes?

 

I have seen formulas that include chems I have never even heard of.

 

eg:

para-nitroaniline red

Auramine (yellow)

 

and where do I get

Synthetic indigo

 

NONE of my chemical suppliers stock any of these items

 

thanks

Peter

[pulkit]

para-nitroaniline

 

Thats a simple enough aromatic compound. You can easily prepare it in the lab, nitration of aniline should work fine.

 

Synthetic indigo

 

A dye - most likely to get it from some textile factory or a dyer. It should be fairly easy to procure.

[chuinhen]

I think halogens are ideal .

 

U can extract chlorine (yellow) from CLOROX

 

U can heat iodine salt or solution

 

Or u can heat nitrate salts to produce NO2 (brown)

[aj47]

I think halogens are ideal .

 

U can extract chlorine (yellow) from CLOROX

 

U can heat iodine salt or solution

 

Or u can heat nitrate salts to produce NO2 (brown)

 

It would proabably be preferable to choose non poisonous gases.

[insane_alien]

yes halogens tend to destroy your lungs from the inside out. they also have a very pungent and choking odour. would not be advised.

[RyanJ]

It would proabably be preferable to choose non poisonous gases.

 

...And then some but the proble is just about every gas that is coloured is highly toxic, probably the reason we seem them as colours - a warning.

 

If your looking for coloured gases that are non-toxic them I say good luck...

 

As insane_alien said they are very nasty to have inside you, chlorine was used in WWII... Nasty stuff, destroys the lining of the lungs and the results are not nice.

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[jdurg]

And in order for you to actually see an appreciable color from chlorine gas, you'd need a pretty highly localized concentration of it. At that concentration, pretty much everything around it will be killed and/or ignite.

[RyanJ]

And in order for you to actually see an appreciable color from chlorine gas, you'd need a pretty highly localized concentration of it. At that concentration, pretty much everything around it will be killed and/or ignite.

 

Hmm... what about low concentrations over along time... would that be just as bad? And things ignite in high concentrations of chlorine... sweet.

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[5614]

Have you ever seen sodium ignite in chlroine gas, that looks quite good.

 

...And then some but the proble is just about every gas that is coloured is highly toxic, probably the reason we seem them as colours - a warning.

Maybe in nature, but not in chemistry or physics! The colour of an element is to do with the configuration of the electrons.

[aj47]

...And then some but the proble is just about every gas that is coloured is highly toxic' date=' probably the reason we seem them as colours - a warning.

 

If your looking for coloured gases that are non-toxic them I say good luck...

 

As insane_alien said they are very nasty to have inside you, chlorine was used in WWII... Nasty stuff, destroys the lining of the lungs and the results are not nice.

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones[/quote']

 

True but there are different degrees of toxicity. Theres a difference between a smoke that would cause damage to your health by direct and repeated inhilation and something like chlorine which is gonna a lot of damage in relatively small quantities.

[jdurg]

Hmm... what about low concentrations over along time... would that be just as bad? And things ignite in high concentrations of chlorine... sweet.

 

Cheers' date='

 

Ryan Jones[/quote']

Yes, it would. The low bits of chlorine would be just as nasty. Even at low concentrations you can smell and feel the effects of Cl2 without really seeing it. At concentrations high enough for you to see the cloud, things that will readily ignite will do so. It's like putting something in a pure oxygen atmosphere.

[RyanJ]

Yes, it would. The low bits of chlorine would be just as nasty. Even at low concentrations you can smell and feel the effects of Cl2 without really seeing it. At concentrations high enough for you to see the cloud, things that will readily ignite will do so. It's like putting something in a pure oxygen atmosphere.

 

Interesting... never actually seen something burn in chlorine so I will have to ask my chemistry teacher for a demo As for the smell - yes I have noticed in the past

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[jdurg]

Steel wool in a chlorine atmosphere is a GREAT demo that should be used more often.

[ThermiteMan]

Our chem teacher did this experiment last year.

 

Iodine

Aluminum

 

Mixture (i believe equal parts but i dont remember)

 

Add 1 drop of Water ONLY, to a very small amount of the mixture ,produces purple flames and purple smoke (dont breath the fumes, its still iodine in the experiment)

[chemfreak]

Hey thermiteman. What is that picture in your avitar about? i mean whats the reaction taking place?

[Darkblade48]

Hey thermiteman. What is that picture in your avitar about? i mean whats the reaction taking place?

That information would be in his signature...

[[w00t]]

my copper oxide and aluminium never works

[RyanJ]

'']my copper oxide and aluminium never works

 

Yea I have heared its hard to ignite, copper oxide and magnesium ruled (Very hard to light). I had tolight it using some ignition cord as far as I remember but won't aluminium and copper oxide be ignited by magnesium ribbon?

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[TATER]

Some compounds for colored flames:

 

Barium nitrate-brilliant green

copper nitrate-green

Fe203-red

theres a few

[YT2095]

copper nitrate isn`t much good in Pyro it`s extremely hygroscopic, as is the chlorate analog.

copper based fuels are better, Benzoate or Acetate, it also benefits from a chlorine donor CuCL2 is idea.

Strontium`s better for Red.

[KFC]

Here some for text.com:

 

(first one does not work of course)

 

SMOKE BOMBS

 

I don't know if this one works, but it might. Mix six parts Epsom

Salts and three parts sugar over a low flame. When it turns into a gel,

pour it into a container and stick a few matches in as fuses. Four pounds

is supposed to fill a city block.

 

4 parts sugar to 6 parts potassium nitrate (SALT PETER). Heat over low

flame untill it melts. Stir well. Pour it into a container and stick in a

few matches as fuses. One lb fills a block nicely with thick white smoke.

 

HTH smoke bomb: Using HTH pool chlorine (2 parts) and non-silicone

brake fluid (3 parts) makes one hell of a smoke bomb. When you add these two

together, it gives off really thick smoke.

 

 

 

 

 

SMOKE SCREENS

 

Here is a somewhat explosive composition uses by the Germans in WWII for

black smoke:

 

Hexachloroethane - 60%

Anthracene - 20%

Magnesium(powder)- 20%

 

Brown Smoke:

 

Pitch - 29.2%

Pottasium Nitrate- 47.4%

Borax - 10.6%

Calcium Carbonate- 4.9%

Sand - 4.0%

Sulpher - 3.9%

 

Note: You may substite pitch by soaking liquid tar in sawdust. This has better

effect.

 

Grey Smoke:

 

A:

Hexachloroethane - 50%

Zinc Powder - 25%

Zinc Oxide - 10%

Pottasium Nitrate- 10%

Colophony Resin - 5%

 

B:

Hexachloroethane - 45.5%

Zinc Oxide - 45.5%

Calcium Silicide - 9.0%

 

Note: Because of the high vapor presure of HC, HC smokes must(be sealed in

and artight container. Also the Zinc Powder one may react with water so

be carefull.

 

White Smoke:

 

Potassium Chlorate- 20%

Ammonium Chloride - 50%

Naphthalene - 20%

Charcoal - 10%

 

Pottasium Nitrate - 48.5%

Sulpher - 48.5%

Realgar - 3.0%

 

Pottasium Nitrate - 50%

Sugar - 50%

 

Yellow Smoke:

 

Potassium Nitrate - 25%

Sulpher - 16%

Realgar - 59%

 

Other Black Smoke:

 

This one make the most beautifull black smoke but is expensive.

 

Potassium Perchlorate - 44%

Antimony Trisulphide - 24%

Naphthalene - 26%

Soluble Glutinous Rice Starch - 6%

 

Potassium Perchlorate - 56%

Sulpher - 11%

Anthracene - 33%

 

Hexachloroethane - 62%

Magnesium - 15%

Naphtalene (or Antracene) - 23%

 

Red Smoke:

 

Potassium Chlorate - 25%

Rhodamine B - 24%

Para Red R - 15%

 

Blue Smoke:

 

Potassium Chlorate - 28%

Methylene Blue - 17%

Indigo Pure - 40%

Wheat Flour - 15%

 

Green Smoke:

 

Potassium Chlorate - 28%

Auramine - 10%

Methylene Blue - 17%

Indigo Pure - 30%

Wheat Flour - 15%

[drainbameged]

so i noticed Potassium chlorate is pretty nasty...lol i was wondering where i can get it and the best way to handle tis substance

[Mr.Chockuls]

i have to add one, to make a good white screen of smoke, cheap and easy, just add paraffin to the KNO3/C12H22O11. i don't know how much do you need, buy if you see when you take burning wood and you put it on a candle you will see the finnest white smoke, Naphthalene also do the work, but when you put a lot it's difficult to ignite it...

[hermanntrude]

coloured gases, nasty

 

coloured smoke... possible. I'm not sure what they use to make the smoke trails they use in stunt planes but i suspect it's just particulate matter scattered widely with some colourant in it. Probably wouldn't even need to be hot. Try talcum powder with some food colouring.

[CaptainPanic]

Although the additional information is interesting, it seems many people didn't answer the question:

 

Smoke is aerosol particles floating in a gas (air).

Gas is not smoke. Also, colored flames are not what's asked for in the question.

 

The question was about colored smokes, while the majority of the answers seems to address colored gases (which indeed are in the "Kids, don't try this at home-category") or flames.

 

I have no experience making colored smokes other than using regular smoke from a smoke machine (as found in clubs and discos) and shining a colored light on it. But wikipedia (again) provides info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colored_smoke

 

Think it's a matter of Google-ing to find a supplier of these smokes. But many may be used for military purposes, so I doubt it's easy to find.

 

Please check the material safety data sheets (MSDS) of any of these chemicals before buying or using them!!

 

finally, my smoke bomb recipe: take sugar and KNO3 (potassium nitrate), mix in roughly 1:1 ratio and try to ignite without burning yourself. The few times I played with this, it didn't ignite easily. I advise a fuse from fireworks (throw away the rest of the fireworks). Actually calculating the right stoichiometrics might also be helpful. I never bothered.