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Measuring out chemicals


hutp

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Ok now i am new with doing pyro math but i usualy just use the information that is given to me in grams but i want to know how to take the chemical formula ad transfer it to grams. say that i wanted to make 1oo Grams of green stars what would i need and how many grams would i need??

 

Thansk for any help!

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Ok I don't know to ratios for green stars but find that and my it so it adds up to 100 grams total of everything you need. I don't think its that hard but thats just me.
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Here's an example with a green star comp.

 

Barium nitrate....................................28.3

Potassium Perchlorate.............................47.2

Parlon............................................4.7

Red Gum...........................................14.2

Soluble Glutinous Rice Starch.....................5.6

 

So for 100g

 

Barium nitrate....................................28.3g

Potassium Perchlorate.............................47.2g

Parlon............................................4.7g

Red Gum...........................................14.2g

Soluble Glutinous Rice Starch.....................5.6g

 

 

28.3+47.2+4.7+14.2+5.6=100

 

Is this what you're talking about?

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Not all formulas are designed to add up to 100%. For example, many older compositions are recorded by parts, not specific weight. I'm not necessarily endorsing this formula - I picked it at random...it's a case in point...

 

Yellow star #3

Preparation: Bind with alcohol.

 

Potassium chlorate................................8

Sodium oxalate.....................................4

Shellac powder......................................2

Dextrin.................................................1

 

Here the ingredients add up to 15; so if you want ~100g multiply all the components by 7 and convert to grams:

Potassium chlorate................................56g

Sodium oxalate....................................28g

Shellac powder......................................14g

Dextrin.................................................7g

 

Total weight = 105g

 

 

Also, many formulae include something like, "Dextrin +5%" or something along those lines. So if making 100g of composition, add an additional 5g Dextrin. If you're making 800g, you'd add 40g additional, and so forth.

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It looks like grams. Example is the first green star composition by Lancaster.

 

Barium chlorate 53

Barium nitrate

Potassium perchlorate

Potassium chlorate 28

Barium carbonate

Red gum 10

Charcoal 5

Parlon

Dextrin 4

 

---

100

 

Now you can also only make 10g by moving the decimal place over to the left by one so 5.3/2.8/1/.5/.4

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kk thanks alootttttt, So you could just move the decimal to make the formula bigger or smaller. say that i had a mixture that added up to 10 grams and i wanted to make it twice as big could i just multiply each chemical by 2?
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  • 3 weeks later...

I prefer percentages, as it makes it easier to conceptualize how much I am actually using. I like to save on metals, so I'm not going to make a comp containing 30% titanium on a whim. It's harder to see that 7 parts out of 20 is rather high without converting, and adding everything up.

 

Its actually rather simple. The following formula is a spider star, very pretty effect.

 

KNO3 - 15

C - 9

S - 2

Dex - 2

If you add them all up, you find there are 28 parts. 28 or around 50 are pretty common numbers for them to add up to as they correspond to pounds in a full batch at some factory where they come from. Converting to percent is very easy. 15 parts KNO3 out of 28 is 53.6% found by 15 divided by 28. So you get the following.

 

KNO3 - 15/28 = 53.6%

C - 9/28 = 32.1%

S - 2/28 = 7.1%

Dex - 2/28 = 7.1%

If you add up the percentages you will find that it's 99.9, but that is just from rounding errors. If you go to two decimal places you get something closer. If you wanted to go from percentages to parts, you just multiply the percentage by how much you want to make. So for 750 grams (or 750 parts) you multiply each by 750.

 

It may be easier to take the formulas you like and place them into a database in excell or something like that. It makes it much easier to work with and quickly calculate exact quantites quickly. If you need any help, I am sure many here would be willing to toss something together.

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Hey I got a question um I made some bp and i measure it buy volume not weight so did do that wrong and is that why it sucks and does go poof and is sizzles? But I made some TT stars and it burn real fast like not poof but swoof? (I'm kinda making up words ) :D
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Hey I got a question um I made some bp and i measure it buy volume not weight so did do that wrong and is that why it sucks and does go poof and is sizzles? But I made some TT stars and it burn real fast like not poof but swoof? (I'm kinda making up words ) :D

Always measure everything in pyro by weight !

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Ok just clearing that up(That explains the crappy bp). Piss ok i made like 4 rockets with bp i measured by volume so does that mean they won't work at all.
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I think it would be more like saltpetre since it has a higher density.

I remember my very first attempt at black powder was with barbecue charcoal, sulfur and waaaay too much saltpetre.

I stuck a glowing skewer in the muxture, but it just glowed strongly.

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probably if you did you will have added WAYYY too much sulfur and charcoal

Why would I have added way too much sulfur and charcoal? I thought that measuring it in volume would make it have to little and maybe you can explain my question in the Occasional Happiness thread. That might clear up some stuff.

 

I think it would be more like saltpetre since it has a higher density.

I remember my very first attempt at black powder was with barbecue charcoal, sulfur and waaaay too much saltpetre.

I stuck a glowing skewer in the muxture, but it just glowed strongly.

Same here with the crap it sucked.

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ok thanks alot and on this site- http://members.shaw.ca/gryphon223/PFP/ are those numbers in parts or by grams for those formulas?? thanks again

Both, neither, it doesn't matter. Parts is whatever you make it. Parts is only used to keep the ratios of the different chemicals straight. Technically it could be KG's.

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Hey I got a question um I made some bp and i measure it buy volume not weight so did do that wrong and is that why it sucks and does go poof and is sizzles? But I made some TT stars and it burn real fast like not poof but swoof? (I'm kinda making up words ) :D

That completely changes the formula. Your mix is grossly underfueled. If you still have some add a crapload of charcoal to it.. Perfect example, If you take standart BP when you measure it out the 15 parts charcoal by volume is about the same as the 75 parts nitrate because airfloat charcoal doesn't weigh anything but it's fluffy as hell. Nitrate on the other hand is pretty heavy and dense. So your formula which should have been something like 75/15/10 was probably a lot closert to 375/15/50. Sulfur has a pretty similar weight and density as nitrate so that is probably pretty close.

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