A question about gunpowder

[Ring0kp]

A question about gunpowder or smokeless powder, whatever it is they put in ammunition. can an additive be made that would cause the ammunition not too fire when a external force is applied such as radio waves or sound wave?

Edited April 4, 2023 by Ring0kp
spelling correction

[studiot]

4 hours ago, Ring0kp said:

A question about gunpowder or smokeless powder, whatever it is they put in ammunition. can an additive be made that would cause the ammunition not too fire when a external force is applied such as radio waves or sound wave?

Hello, you are more welcome than those spammers who try to clog up the pages with their rubbish.

I also read you personal introduction, and the the short answer to your question is no it doesn't work like that.

I seriously suggest you find some introduction to basic science to avoid wasting a lot of your time with fruitless dreams (don't stop having dreams though).

What part of Science are you most interested in ?

[chenbeier]

No discussion about explosives, poisons, drugs,  chemical warfare

 

 

[swansont]

9 minutes ago, chenbeier said:

No discussion about explosives, poisons, drugs,  chemical warfare

 

 

!

Moderator Note

A discussion about a hypothetical way of neutralizing an explosion is not a violation of rule 2.3, unless it strays into “dangerous behavior” territory

 

[exchemist]

10 hours ago, Ring0kp said:

A question about gunpowder or smokeless powder, whatever it is they put in ammunition. can an additive be made that would cause the ammunition not too fire when a external force is applied such as radio waves or sound wave?

Yes, a few problems with your question. Firstly, radio and sound waves don't exert a force - or not to any significant extent - and secondly a force will not ignite gunpowder in any case. You need essentially to set fire to it somehow. You may have seen sailors firing c.18th cannons in films, for instance. That's why we call it "firing" them. A special match was used, applied to a hole in the gun and that would set it off.

There was later something called the "percussion cap", in which a small amount of mercury fulminate, Hg(CNO)₂,  was used. That is a highly unstable compound that will explode if struck sharply. This could be used to ignite the gunpowder. So with that system, applying a force, by hitting a capsule of this, could indirectly ignite a charge of gunpowder. 

There are other explosives that detonate when receiving a shock, most notoriously nitroglycerine, but also less hideously dangerous things such as picric acid* and nitrogen triiodide, both of which I have made at school, hem hem.

But back to your question, there isn't actually the problem you imagine with gunpowder, so there is no need for your proposed solution.

By the way, if you want to stop gunpowder from burning you just wet it. (In fact historically this was the basis of an early HM Customs and Excise test for distilled alcohol. "Proof spirit" was the weakest solution of alcohol in water which, when used to wet gunpowder, would not prevent it from burning.) 

 

* A friend of mine at university had a funny story about a school practical joke, involving painting the hammer of a single piano key with it, the key in question being played only in the bridging passage between two verses of the school song. You can probably imagine the effect.

Edited April 4, 2023 by exchemist

[geordief]

10 minutes ago, exchemist said:

 

* A friend of mine at university had a funny story about a school practical joke, involving painting the hammer of a single piano key with it, the key in question being played only in the bridging passage between two verses of the school song. You can probably imagine the effect.

Blew his finger off?

Was that the school for hard knocks?

[chenbeier]

Sorry, I realy cannot understand that the Mod. or Admin. let this Thread running.

[exchemist]

6 minutes ago, geordief said:

Blew his finger off?

Was that the school for hard knocks?

No it was the felt hammer, inside the piano, that was painted. There was a bang, a certain amount of dust and dead ladybirds - and an eerie pause in the singing.  

[swansont]

56 minutes ago, exchemist said:

Yes, a few problems with your question. Firstly, radio and sound waves don't exert a force - or not to any significant extent - and secondly a force will not ignite gunpowder in any case. You need essentially to set fire to it somehow. You may have seen sailors firing c.18th cannons in films, for instance. That's why we call it "firing" them. A special match was used, applied to a hole in the gun and that would set it off.

They’re trying to impede the ignition, not cause it.

 

 

A sound wave can extinguish a flame by depriving it of oxygen, but for a material with its own oxidant this won’t do anything.

40 minutes ago, chenbeier said:

Sorry, I realy cannot understand that the Mod. or Admin. let this Thread running.

How does making something not explode qualify as a danger?

[exchemist]

3 minutes ago, swansont said:

They’re trying to impede the ignition, not cause it.

A sound wave can extinguish a flame by depriving it of oxygen, but for a material with its own oxidant this won’t do anything.

How does making something not explode qualify as a danger?

I know, but I read the query as assuming such waves could ignite it, so to disabuse the poster of that notion I tried to explain how gunpowder was actually ignited in practice.   

[chenbeier]

I am talking about the Mercury fulminante and the nonsense put it on a hammer on a piano.

Quote

A question about gunpowder or smokeless powder, whatever it is they put in ammunition. can an additive be made that would cause the ammunition not too fire when a external force is applied such as radio waves or sound wave?

This is the same like what Nobel did as he add diatomaceous earth to Nitro glycerine to make it more safe known as dynamite.

To make a explosive with an Additive more safe against Radio waves is still a funktionell bomb.

Edited April 4, 2023 by chenbeier

[studiot]

Th  op said ammunition not a bomb.

But for all we know, our new member may be sriting a scfi or james bond novel about some device to stop the hero being shot.

Perhaps we should wait to find out what is really in his mind |?

[swansont]

59 minutes ago, chenbeier said:

To make a explosive with an Additive more safe against Radio waves is still a funktionell bomb.

What part of cause the ammunition not too (sic) fire is confusing people?

59 minutes ago, chenbeier said:

I am talking about the Mercury fulminante and the nonsense put it on a hammer on a piano.

Nobody said anything about mercury fulminate on the piano hammer.

[chenbeier]

But he used picric acid.

Quote

No that was picric acid. Note I am not providing any details on synthesising any of these compounds. But their properties are widely well-known i...

 

 

Edited April 4, 2023 by chenbeier

[TheVat]

What chord sounded when they dropped the piano with picric acid covered hammers down a mineshaft?

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A flat minor.

[npts2020]

8 hours ago, TheVat said:

What chord sounded when they dropped the piano with picric acid covered hammers down a mineshaft?

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A flat minor.

It was a smashing success!

[Ring0kp]

Hello, this is more of a thought experiment, if ammunition had an additive that would cause it not too fire when some type of external field is applied or external trigger you can more or less make a dampening field for a gun with this ammunition, would not fire. Just throwing it out there. We can't take all the guns that's never gonna work, so we need to come up with other ways to stop all these mass shootings. You can hope for world peace and kumbaya but that is not going to do it. My2Cents - spend it any way you want

Edited April 27, 2023 by Ring0kp

[iNow]

Mass shootings aren’t the big problem we face. It’s regular old every day ones. And suicides. Emphasis mine in the below.

 

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/26/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/

How many people are killed in mass shootings in the U.S. every year?

This is a difficult question to answer because there is no single, agreed-upon definition of the term “mass shooting.” Definitions can vary depending on factors including the number of victims and the circumstances of the shooting.

The FBI collects data on “active shooter incidents,” which it defines as “one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.” Using the FBI’s definition, 103 people – excluding the shooters – died in such incidents in 2021.

The Gun Violence Archive, an online database of gun violence incidents in the U.S., defines mass shootings as incidents in which four or more people are shot, even if no one was killed (again excluding the shooters). Using this definition, 706 people died in these incidents in 2021.

Regardless of the definition being used, fatalities in mass shooting incidents in the U.S. account for a small fraction of all gun murders that occur nationwide each year. (…)

In 2021, 54% of all gun-related deaths in the U.S. were suicides (26,328), while 43% were murders (20,958), according to the CDC. The remaining gun deaths that year were accidental (549), involved law enforcement (537) or had undetermined circumstances (458).

[exchemist]

1 hour ago, Ring0kp said:

Hello, this is more of a thought experiment, if ammunition had an additive that would cause it not too fire when some type of external field is applied or external trigger you can more or less make a dampening field for a gun with this ammunition, would not fire. Just throwing it out there. We can't take all the guns that's never gonna work, so we need to come up with other ways to stop all these mass shootings. You can hope for world peace and kumbaya but that is not going to do it. My2Cents - spend it any way you want

Nice idea but there’s no way to get this to work, unfortunately. The USA has to join the rest of the civilised world and get rid of the permissive gun culture, however hard and slow that is. 

[StringJunky]

17 hours ago, Ring0kp said:

Hello, this is more of a thought experiment, if ammunition had an additive that would cause it not too fire when some type of external field is applied or external trigger you can more or less make a dampening field for a gun with this ammunition, would not fire. Just throwing it out there. We can't take all the guns that's never gonna work, so we need to come up with other ways to stop all these mass shootings. You can hope for world peace and kumbaya but that is not going to do it. My2Cents - spend it any way you want

One way being trialled is locking the weapons to their owners biometrically, so that only they can use them.. Seems like a practical way forward. Your idea makes sense except for the means to practical realization.

Edited April 27, 2023 by StringJunky

[pzkpfw]

Just because: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weapon_Shops_of_Isher

[Ring0kp]

That is why I am researching this to find out if there ia a "means to practical realization" We have much technology today is there even a place to start on any damping techniques?