Von Klemmung

Oh, I know Armstrong's, maybe not pure, but in some configuration anyway. Over here, we have a kind of "toy cap", that can best be described/translated with "Dog Stoppers". It seems they were once used to scare off belligerent dogs. The cap itself consists of a 1/2" styrofoam cup (former cork), with a largish (3-5 matchheads) of a VERY sensitive red composition. The cap is placed in the barrel of a special gun, which projects a needle into the composition. Loud bang. Very. In my youth I tried wetting the composition and scraping/spooning the composition out. That's how I learned about the sensitivity - when the material dried on my scraper. Loud bang. Very. Any others know of this toy/firework? I suspect some kind of binder is included in the mixture, and maybe some fillers, but not much. Anyway, homemade fireworks "torpedoes" containing a largish grain of this stuff was, of course, "Very Interesting". Luckily, we can all get wiser.

Erm... Yup! And used for boosting petrol engines and whipped cream, if I remember correctly. Thanks for the additional info, Budullewraagh. Hat off! You KNOW your compounds! Any of you guys have an idea, why YT2095 suggests a coiled bridgewire for electric ignition? Or maybe YT2095 himself?

In fact, many compounds have already been renamed internationally. As an example, the ammonia ion is notorious for making AZIDES, like our good old nitrogen tri-iodide, which is now known as iodine AZIDE! So, your ammonia gas, known to Danes as AmmoniAk (ammony-ACK!), has changed its name to the internationally-approved ... TADAAAHH!!! AZAN! (or azane). The naming system is called IUPAC (don't remember what stands for), but I for one am going to have a hard time readjusting. --------- As an aside story, our brother country of Sweden still uses the words Syre (Shi-re), Syra (Shi-ra), Kväve (K-vay-veh) and Väte (vay-teh). In English, that would be oxygen, acid, nitrogen and hydrogen. The Germans are not far off with Stickstoff for nitrogen and Wasserstoff for hydrogen. Both Stickstoff and Kväve has something to do with suffocating. And Väte (moisture/wetness), Wasserstoff and hydrogen has a lot to do with water. As I said before... ENOUGH LINGUISTICS FOR NOW! (I could STILL go on)

I think I remember something about making litharge (PbO or Lead Monoxide). AFAIR, you would mix powdered (ground up, I guess) lead with KNO3, put it in a charcoal crucible (carve a hole in a biggish piece of charcoal) and heat it with a common butane/propane blowtorch. I have the "recipe" for litharge somewhere, but I guess it's in my stores about 250 miles from here. Hope this is something to go on from.

Just a thought... This sounds like a way to make your own improvised toy caps (considering the amount of comp is in today's caps, and the imminent government crackdown on toys that go "The B-word".) But seriuosly, acetoning match heads could actually make them dangerous??? Or maybe using another kind of solvent to remove binders/fillers? Dang, I have to shut down that idea-making part of my brain...

NOW I'm envious! First of all, even a Z motor wouldn't cut the mustard! You'd have to use our alphabet, buddy. Beyond the Z, there's an Æ (A with 3 dashes or an A and an E genespliced), an Ø (O with a slash) and an Å (A with a ring above it). That must be an Å motor (pronounced like the very first vocal sound in Oh = Å-oo) Enough linguistics for now (I could go on). Now I need to know if anyone has a good method for using four mortars to lift, say 30 pounds, and propel it out to a range of about a hundred feet horizontally. I'm counting on catching a fertilizer truck square on with a pine table!

Hey where'd that LUVLY thread go? Okay, I'm a couple months late on this forum, and have taken my time reading the threads from oldest up. Now, I have a couple of replies to the earlier posts on this thread. I hope they might prove useful. (This might take a while to read, but just hang on) 1. YT, you mentioned an electric igniter with a coil or spring-shaped bridgewire. Why the coil shape? Anything to do with the inductance of the coil making it heat up faster or easier on a lower voltage? Otherwise, I've only read about and used short, straight bridgewires. 2. Regarding dextrin. I make this stuff in quantity when I run out of it. Any problems making it (apart from time and temperature) might stem from the confusion between flour and starch. In Denmark, we can get both corn flour and corn starch. The purest starch type is the one you want. As we can also get potato starch for a third of the price of corn do. that's the one I'm using. BTW, try looking at it closely before and after baking (good light and maybe magnifiers). Anyway, after baking, it should make a CLEAR brownish paste with water. If it is still foggy or opaque, there's still some more unconverted starch in it. 3. Regarding filling rocket cores with black powder. Okay for smallish rockets. For larger or serious ones, use a pyrotechnic igniter (one that creates a greater puff of hot gas). Google Richard Nakka. He has good info on rockets. 4. Regarding coring of rocket motors. This all depends on a multitude of factors. Eg. Casing strength, fuel power, nozzle size etc. The topic is called Grain Geometry, and much can be found out by Googling Richard Nakka. Also check James Yawn (yes) and his page on RCANDY. 5. Regarding Red gum. Initially, I thought this is what you get when you don't brush your teeth OK. But I found this on the net. http://onlinedictionary.datasegment.com/word/Red-gum Actually, it seems to be a naturally occurring wood sap from a Eucalyptus-related tree. 6. Regarding Spud guns. Could anyone please think up a way to deplete potatoes??? PLEASE! I would love to be the first on my block to fire Depleted Spud Rounds 7. Budullewraaagh, this one's for you (hope I got the number of A's right). Okay, N2O might not in itself be an oxidiser, but AFAIR N2O releases oxygen upon heating, no? Also, it is used as the oxidiser part of the fuel in many hybrid rocket systems. As for the fuel part, I've heard of acrylics, paper and (believe it or not) BOLOGNA! Whew, I hope it was as good for you as it was for me. Could we please get the pyro thread up and running again (hopefully without the obvious explosives and "where do I buy this"-questions)? Nothing wrong with lack of compounds, but let's be chemical types and synth it! ------------ "We're all individualists!" -"I'm not!"

r1dermon, google this: Rcandy Adding Fe2O3 makes the grain burn faster. ----------- -"I think not, therefore I am not? I think not!"

Hello everyone. Might I correct thee a wee bitty? That would be Noble, not Nobel. As they were so reluctant to react, they were considered more noble than other gases. Nothing to do with mr. Nobel or the prize. Just nitpicking here, but it seems to me to be in order, especially in these forums. Eg. iron oxide? Ferric or ferrous?