curiosity

These are the iron filings that I'm using: http://www.teachersource.com/product/iron-filings-1-pound-package/electricity-magnetism Hard to see from that picture, but they're really rather small. I'd almost call it iron powder. And I've read that people have had success with regular shavings even to the size of regular steel wool, so I don't think that's the issue. Here's the carbon/charcoal i'm using: http://www.petco.com/product/5217/Marineland-Black-Diamond-Premium-Activated-Carbon.aspx It's granulated when I buy it, so I have to crush it myself, and it's not a perfect powder. Maybe I'll try making sure it's crushed further, but, again, I don't think that's the problem unless there's some serious chemical difference in the compound, and I've been assured that there isn't (I must have really annoyed the guy at the store--made him talk to me about it like 3 times to make sure that carbon=charcoal). Tahnks for your help, though, alpha. Anyone have any experience making these or playing around with these ingedients/reactions?

Hey guys, I'm having some trouble with making some home made hand warmers. The basic idea is that you put iron filings, salt, sawdust, activated charcoal, maybe vermiculite, and water in a bag. The water rusts the iron iron and creates and exothermic reaction, which creates heat. The salt accelerates the reaction. The charcoal distributes the heat and maybe accelerates, too. The sawdust just sort of absorbs the heat to make it last longer and gives it some substance. The vermiculite also distributes heat. But I'm not getting any heat. I've tried several "recipes" and have messed around with the ratios like a half a dozen times, but I'm not having any luck. I'm really not getting any heat at all. Any idea what the problem could be? I've tried these: http://www.education.com/activity/article/warm-hands-iron-rusts/ http://www.hometrainingtools.com/homemade-hand-warmers/a/1650/ plus a bunch of different other guides on other sites. haven't tried the water gel powder, but that's not an ingredient in most of the recipes i've seen. Really, just salt, iron, and water should do the trick. It should get REALLY hot, in fact, but I'm getting nothing. What's the problem? I can only guess that it's the iron? I've already contacted the iron filing supplier with my inquiry