that's pretty sick stuff. is that all you know?

Well, the ringing in my ears and the fragments of a plastic container which I currently have all over my basement is a pretty good indication that I found something which is not all too safe. As I've mentioned in previous posts, I had a 10 mL sample of bromine which was stored in an amber glass bottle as part of my element collection. Sadly, that bromine was eating through the lid of the bottle and corroding the container it was stored in. This past week, I went to buddy of mine's place and had about 4 mL or so of the bromine permanently sealed in a glass ampoule. It is no longer leaching through and looks great next to my chlorine and iodine ampoules. I donated the rest of the bromine to my pal for doing me the huge favor, and just brought the amber glass bottle back. Today I was bored so I decided to clean it out by taking some ammonia solution and pouring it in the bottle and then collecting it in a flimsy plastic cup. (Boy am I glad I used a flimsy plastic cup). I let it sit around in my basement for a little while then went back to take a look at it. There was an oily red liquid on the top in a few tiny droplets. It wasn't a heckuva lot, maybe about the size of a popcorn kernal each in a total of five droplets. Knowing that it was probably a nitrogen trihalide that I was looking at, I was very cautious. I took a long yardstick and just jiggled the cup for a little bit. Nothing much happened. I then jiggled it a little bit more and KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!! It detonated with violent speed and echoed loudly off the basement walls. Boy those nitrogen trihalides are impressively powerful.

http://chemistry.about.com/cs/chemicalweapons/f/blredmercury.htm

is quite good about red mercury, seemingly the definitions of it vary.

i cant really figure out what it is actually made of, so how to make some ive got no idea.

 

nice one jdurg!

lucky there wasnt large quantaties in the cup!

Go jdurg! Chemist approach on explosions: If you manufacture something unstable that explodes violently, you must repeat the experiment!

 

And about the red mercury... I believe that it's the red mercury antimony oxide. Its chemical composition is Hg2Sb2O7. I found an isotope composition for atleast one substance called "red mercury antimony oxide":

 

Hg196-0,16

Hg198-10,2

Hg199-18,8

Hg200-23,1

Hg201-13,22

Hg202-29,8

Hg204-6,8

O16-99,76

O17-0,037

O18-0,2

Sb121-57,25

Sb123-42,7

Sb125-0,04

 

As you can see, no radioactive elements are present, except the 125 isotope of antimony (a very small amount of it), which is rather odd, since its decay is double beta-, and its half-life isn't even two years. However, usually red mercury is referred to as a highly radioactive compound, which the disappearingly small trace of Sb-125 doesn't make it. Anyway, I'm still not convinced that even with further irradiating procedures you could make it suitable for an explosive that could provide enough heat for a deuterium-deuterium or deuterium-tritium fusion.

 

I also found info about it at http://www.scorecard.org/chemical-profiles/summary.tcl?edf_substance_id=20720%2d76%2d7 . Or actually, no info; no data listed whatsoever. It was just on the list of compounds dangerous to the environment. Beats me.

so im guessing you cant just mix Hg + Sb + O and make that! so how is it formed? or is it a rare natural substance?

 

like bud, i dont know much bout red mercury

so im guessing you cant just mix Hg + Sb + O and make that! so how is it formed? or is it a rare natural substance?

well if you wanted to synth it, you'd probably use an antimony polyatomic oxide anion and some mercury... it would be a bit sketchy

mercury forms amalgams quite easily, and with most all metals, where would be the problem with selective oxidation after that ))))

so then one of you guys [who have all the chemicals] or i, [if i went and got all the chemicals] could make some red mercury.

that'd be cool, if you do, tell me about it!

I for one wouldn`t even bother trying, it`s a waste of resources to end up with a product that I have no practical use for, I can`t speak for the rest on here, but I`de venture to say that the majority would be of the same opinion.

personally i don't like mercury and its compounds too much. and also the idea of attempting to make something i

-don't know anything about

-dont know the formula of

is not good. also, consider the fact that a bunch of societs died working with it... no way man

i just thought that:

 

A) It's _very_ radioactive B) Its composition isn't too well known to public C) Generally it's thought it can, when exploded, generate enough heat to start a deuterium-tritium fusion, thereby making the plutonium "starter" in fusion/neutron bombs unnecessary.

 

sounded like quite a cool element, and we have the chemical equation for it:

 

Hg2Sb2O7

It would be terribly dangerous for the maker to make properly irradiated red mercury. And the transportation wouldn't be that easy either. As I have said about three times already, I don't think it can be used as a substitute for the plutonium charge in a fusion/neutron bomb, but if it can, then we're all screwed. >:/

to me red mecrucry sounds like a cool chemical, and people dont know a lot about it. at the same time, the little we do know tells us that it is dangerous.

still it would be cool to experiment, but maybe the health risks mean that it should only be done in real labs and no in people's homes!

Hg2Sb2O7 is rather easy to make, but if there is such thing as "red mercury", it's probably irradiated red mercury antimony oxide or something else that we don't know squat about.

but why dont we know much about it? surely it could be made in some lab somweher, or when you said "we" did you mean us here at SFN?

With "we", I meant everyone else than FBI etc. if it's really such a material as I have described. And the reason we don't know, is most likely A) There's no such thing as red mercury (at least not the kind that can be a fission device substitute) or B) The _GOVERNMENT_ doesn't want the public to know about it.

but surely this "substance" would have got a lot of interest from others, surely someone would have wanted to take the risk and try to make it. maybe military scientists could be developing it, but surely there's some documentation about it somewhere.

if theres no such thing as 'red mercury' then how did some 'create' the idea, and why are we talking about it?

back to H2O2???

H2O2, woohoo!

After taking a detour through element collecting, red mercury and such, perhaps we indeed need to get back on topic.

 

Sooo... Anyone made any piranha bath lately?

what is the practical uses of a piranha bat?

 

other than violent reactions!?

"piranha bat"... I think I'm not going to sleep well tonight. *shivers* Hehe, no, just kidding. Tpyo is on laughnig mttaer.

 

I've heard that piranha bath is good for cleaning test tubes, I'd recommend H2SO4 though. And you can dissolve someone you hate in a bath tub of it! Or, you could smite a nearby pine table with it (pour some extra for ol' Gilded ).

"piranha bat"... I think I'm not going to sleep well tonight. *shivers* Hehe' date=' no, just kidding. Tpyo is on laughnig mttaer.

 

I've heard that piranha bath is good for cleaning test tubes, I'd recommend H2SO4 though. And you can dissolve someone you hate in a bath tub of it! Or, you could smite a nearby pine table with it (pour some extra for ol' Gilded ).[/quote']

 

Hahaha, nice...

 

I heard that cleaning test tubes with piranha bath can make them violently explode. I just pour some water and a bit of sand in mine then put the stopper on and violently shake them. Seems to work great and theres no chance of an obscure chemical reaction taking place that blows off two arms, one leg, and half my face.

If a chemical reaction doesn't have the capability to blow off four limbs and at least 3/4 of your face, it's not worth trying.

 

The sand or a proper brush is fine, but if you do something with a compound that has a nasty habit of sticking onto things, maybe some sort of acid is a better option.

If a chemical reaction doesn't have the capability to blow off four limbs and at least 3/4 of your face' date=' it's not worth trying.

[/quote']

 

Ill give an amen to that brother.

yub yub lance!

 

i'll re-ask Gilded question, this time seriously:

 

Sooo... Anyone made any piranha bath lately?