potassium perchlorate

[Jared530 10+ year member]

I don't think you can send KClO4 through the mail.

Yea, i ordered 5 pounds about 6 months ago.

And i kno that peroxides are highly unstable, AP i think is the most unstable

 

[Jared530 10+ year member]

but hey swimfreak. I have a question. Have you ever succesfull detonated NC? Because ive tried to make a large enough AP cap to set it off, but it didnt. What do u suggest?

 

[swimfreak26 10+ year member]

If by NC you mean nitrocellulose, yes, I've done it successfully.

You can actually detonate it rather easily, with a match or a model rocket igniter for example. There are two things that I can think you're doing incorrectly if you're having trouble detonating. The first is that I noticed your recipie used way too little nitric acid. If you're not completely nitrogenating the cellulose that the activation energy will increase and you'll have trouble detonating...so try a bit more concentrated nitric acid solution (1:1 or 2:1 sulfuric to nitric).

The second thing that may be going wrong is that you've got acid residue in the compound. This can be fixed my extended rinsings (5-10 washes isn't excessive), and prolonged drying time afterwards.

 

[Jared530 10+ year member]

yea the rinsing isnt the problem, i dedicted a whole day to rinsing the cotton. Ok ill try using more nitric acid. I dont mean igniting it, i mean detonating it. make it blow up not flare.

 

[theCybe 5,000+ posts]

thermite, it's been a while.

x2, first thing i thought when i saw the thread.

and I knew someone would say something about that anarchist cookbook rag.

try the poor man's james bond, instead.

 

[luvinthebass 5,000+ posts]

and don't ever throw a spray can in a fire

 

[AJ²06 5,000+ posts]

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[swimfreak26 10+ year member]

yea the rinsing isn't the problem, i dedicated a whole day to rinsing the cotton. Ok ill try using more nitric acid. I don't mean igniting it, i mean detonating it. make it blow up not flare.

It needs a reason to blow up. Just like gunpowder, all it does it burn rather quickly. The only way to make it "explode" is to have it enclosed in something. I'm struggling to describe this right now...

think of a firecracker....the only reason it explodes is that the trapped gas from the burning of the powder has to blow out the side of the thing...were you just to have the powder, it'd burn similar to what you're experiencing.