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Playing with Nitroglycerin


Ubehage

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Let me start by saying, this is not my own video. I wouldn't dare nitrate glycerol, and the finished product I guess is Unobtainium to me.

 

Anyway.. To the point:

In this video, he demonstrates and explains the properties of Nitroglycerin, and I found it quite interesting.

 

First of all, NG will not explode if it's not under pressure. Period!

If not pressurized/confined in some way, it will not explode!

 

I know, from other sources, that NG will burn very well. It's a bit more flammable than the alcohol we use in pyro, so not as "explosive" as gasoline.

It's auto-ignition temperature is 270 Celsius (518 Fahrenheit), and it does produce it's own heat by both friction and pressure.

 

Enough talk, here is the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOE4pCehJ70

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I would attribute the sensitivity mainly to thermal hotspot occurence rather than only pressure of its confinement but I suppose the two do corellate.

The tiny vapor bubbles in the liquid NG are heated from compression when subjected to shock from an impact and raise the temperature to initiation level.

 

I have also heard that the electronegativity of the NO3 groups puts more of a positive charge on the carbons causing them to bend away from each other slightly which would also attribute to the sensitivity.

 

The first test with the plastic container still had pressure exerted on the sample between the bullet and the wood back stop which should be enough to initiate the NG. I have initiated a drop before with a hammer on a plank of wood.

Maybe the container ruptured and spilt the contents relieving the pressure before the bullet had a chance to properly interact and form hotspots. The metal container is much stronger so this could not happen.

 

If you look at the nitroglycerin it is cloudy white in his video, which means it contains water and has not been dried. This could also affect sensitivity maybe.

 

Just my 2 cents.

Edited by greenlight
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Interesting video, I remember my Advanced Placement High School Chemistry teacher using his experience with nitroglycerin as a word caution of a thinking first about the outcome before jumping right in educational experience... He told us that in college him and a few buddies got bored making nitrogen triiodide paste and using it for so called 'practical jokes' (jokes that would result in felony charges nowadays, so I won't go into details of what he said they did with it) decided to make nitroglycerin one weekend for the heck of... Then the teaching moment came, once they had actually made a batch (that was apparently quite large) they all looked at each other and said "WTH are we going to do with it now?"

Edited by AllisterF
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  • 3 months later...
That first test with the knife was stupid dangerous...
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Fascinating stuff, but unfortunately I just can't see how "PLAYING with Nitroglycerin" is either safe or useful in amateur pyro, This thread might be better in HE, (or locked). Edited by PeteyPyro
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How sensitive is NG? I know what you said about hitting with a hammer, but that would be alot of shock.

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NG in theory is reasonably sensitive -too much so for a use alone in HE now. However it degrades and is difficult to store and as a liquid it flows -even if you think you've adsorbed it or gelled it. DIY NG contains every possible impurity from the process so can be hard to use and very sensitive.

 

Best watched on youtube!

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I have made it quite a few times and it is definitely not an ideal energetic. But I have found that if it is washed excessively to remove all acid traces and then remove the water in a desiccator it is quite stable and less sensitive than most primary explosives. It would still be more sensitive than the pyrotechnic comps though (whistle/flash) and being a liquid makes it more difficult to handle.

A drop needs to be soaked into a tissue to be detonated with a hammer and merely placing a drop on a floor and hitting it usually just spreads it around.

 

If synthesised correctly with temperature control and good quality reagents, the only real impurities would be the dinitro form and acid traces.. the acid traces are the worst in my opinion and will definitely increase the sensitivity and degradation especially after a couple.of days. Of made properly and dried it looks exactly like the original glycerin.

Sobrero or Nobel (can't remember off the top of my head)

Stored a washed sample for years in his lab.

I would definitely recommend experience with safer energetics before making NG.

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  • 2 months later...

My first post, required to "get started"! Just introducing myself, I will add that Nitroglycerin is nice stuff, when used for it's specific purpose. I was about 14 or 15 when my Dad and I, visiting his Uncle in Michigan, found him in his barn preparing dynamite sticks for uprooting trees in his field. This was fascinating stuff for a young teen, and I ate it up, including where he bought the stuff. He demonstrated how the black-powder fuse was crimped in place in the cap, a hole pierced through the side of a stick angularly with a wooden pencil, the cap inserted deep in the stick, and the fuse bound to the stick with rubber-bands. He used about 3 feet or so of fuse. Later, I learned it had a burn rate of 38 sec.

per foot, so plenty of walking time was allowed. He drove a heavy pry-bar into the soft sandy ground by a tree trunk, slid the fused stick down into the hole, lit the fuse, and laughed as we started to run, He walked away, about 50 feet, we waited, the report was a heavy "WHUMP", and the tree was rolled over onto it's side! Absolutely amazing.

 

How come this forum has no place allotted, that I could find, for introductions?

tenneyguy

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