Chiquinho2 Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 Good morningCalcium nitrateCan be used asOxidant for OrangeFormulation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mabuse00 Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 In theory yes. Practically no. It will draw moisture from the air until it becomes a slurry. Perhaps if you live in a desert or use an airtight container (for a flare ect.). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 Orange tends to be one of the easier colors to make. This is probably both an advantage and a disadvantage at times, depending on whether you want it to be orange. You don't necessarily need chlorates or perchlorates to make orange stars. My personal favorite method is a mix of barium nitrate and strontium nitrate. It makes an optical yellow by mixing green and red flames. You can make a whole spectrum of colors theoretically from pure green to pure red including yellows, ambers, and oranges. There are some orange stars based on mostly BP ingredients. They're not my favorite and certainly aren't the best, but it's hard to say they're not orange. There hasn't really been a big push, but I suspect something much better could be made from a common oxidizer like potassium nitrate with some calcium colorants and stronger fuels. If orange or golden glitters can be made easily, making stars shouldn't be that hard either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiquinho2 Posted May 26, 2020 Author Share Posted May 26, 2020 Then would It be the same With sodium nitrate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimjimboom Posted June 6, 2020 Share Posted June 6, 2020 Yes sodium nitrate is hydroscopic but not to such an extent i dont think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted June 6, 2020 Share Posted June 6, 2020 Depending on your local humidity, you should think again. If it's dry in your location, it can be used. If the humidity is much above 60%, it will probably start sucking up water. Generally speaking, it's about on par with sodium chlorate and ammonium nitrate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidh Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 Ammonium nitrate wishes it were on par. I had a bag of calcium nitrate that turned into a bag of liquid. No solids, just liquid. It was nuts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkWhisperer Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 "Deliquescense" is the big brother 50-cent word of hygroscopicity, and refers to adsorption of atmospheric water vapor until it forms a liquid solution. Though hygroscopicity is typically used by pyros and non-purist chemists to describe both phenomena. Sugar and charcoal and KNO3 are hygroscopic. Calcium nitrate (and ammonium nitrate, and calcium chloride) are deliquescent delinquents. Sodium nitrate might be on the edge, because it is highly water soluble (over 90g/100mL); never left a jar open long enough to find out... Silica packs, airproof containers, and oven heating (KNO3, charcoal, and strontium nitrate see my oven often) are your friends. p.s. to Newbies: "Hydroscopicity" is not really a word. A "hydroscope" is a device that allows you to see below water; nothing to do with chemical attraction to water. Semantics, but words can be important (especially when cofusing chlorate with perchlorate, tsk, tsk). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 Pure potassium nitrate is not really hygroscopic. It's the other stuff in there as impurities that can make it seem like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powderman Posted April 23, 2021 Share Posted April 23, 2021 Calcium nitrate can be used for KNO3 production if someone lives where it can no longer be bought. It reacts with K2CO3 and forms insoluble CaCO3 and KNO3 stays in solution... Tried it, works fine... But definitely not worth the effort if one can buy it :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Posted April 23, 2021 Share Posted April 23, 2021 It's easy to look at a comp and see what some components do. Sometimes it's less easy to sub things because of the odd characteristics of some chems. In Europe pyro is often for winter events when it's damp or raining. In the USA the 4th is usually warm and dry. sometimes the moisture tolerance of the comp is critical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidh Posted April 24, 2021 Share Posted April 24, 2021 Arthur, apparently you have never been to Florida on the 4th of July. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arw Posted April 25, 2021 Share Posted April 25, 2021 Calcium nitrate can be used for KNO3 production if someone lives where it can no longer be bought. It reacts with K2CO3 and forms insoluble CaCO3 and KNO3 stays in solution... Tried it, works fine... But definitely not worth the effort if one can buy it :-)K2SO4 is cheaper and CaSO4 is insoluble too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powderman Posted April 26, 2021 Share Posted April 26, 2021 (edited) K2SO4 is cheaper and CaSO4 is insoluble too Yes, but if You have fertilizer grade calcium nitrate it contains usually some ammonium nitrate and K2CO3 deals with it. Also CaSO4 is a bit soluble so it could make problems with contamination during crystallization. Here the prices are similar, so the biggest cost is the time to filter and crystallize. But I will definitely try K2SO4 to see the difference, there is no substitute for personal experience :-) Edited April 26, 2021 by Powderman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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