Hey everyone! I was bored and I decided to extract some flash powder from a big firecracker. Next, I added a small drop of 15% HCL to the powder.
Although there was no visible reaction, a chlorine-like smell started leaking off from the mixture. The quantities I used were very small, but this
gas filled the room and started smelling awfully. So, I'm just asking did I actually do.
Thanks!stygian - 23-12-2015 at 13:17
chlorine dioxide?Bert - 23-12-2015 at 13:27
Try touching the same powder with a small drop of concentrated sulfuric acid on a glass rod. Do it outdoors, in sunlight. You will find out if it's
ClO2 really quickly- You had best only use a quite small amount of flash powder. And personal protective equipment would be a good idea too.johncena - 23-12-2015 at 13:31
Well, I tried adding some conc. H2SO4 to the same powder, but nothing really happened - no gas, no visible changes, nothing. Metacelsus - 23-12-2015 at 18:27
Could it be KMnO4 making Cl2? That would explain the fact that no gas was produced with H2SO4.
However, adding any acid to flash powder would likely make hydrogen gas by reaction with the metal fuel.
[Edited on 12-24-2015 by Cheddite Cheese]Texium - 24-12-2015 at 08:42
Sulfuric acid is slower to react with aluminum than HCl though due to the oxide layer. Add a bit of a reducing agent to it and suddenly it takes off.Bert - 24-12-2015 at 11:23
My bad. I suggested sulfuric acid as chlorate based compositions usually ignite on contact- Guess he has a perchlorate or nitrate oxidized flash?
Permanganate oxidized flash is very rare, at least in commerciall fireworks.
It's actually chloric acid that would be produced if chlorate was present, rather than ClO2, I believe. UV light would not then be required for an
ignition...
Fantasma4500 - 26-12-2015 at 02:43
could very well be nitrate reacting to form NOCl with HCl
to test for chlorine gas you would wanna fill a small beaker with the gas (chlorine is quite heavy) and then insert burning steel wool
if a cloud of red smoke is formed, then it indicates chlorine gas
quite neat little reaction to play around with, not sure if NOCl would react as vigorously as chlorine?
the gas could also be attempted to be poured out of the beaker and into another beaker with a bit of ammonia, if its indeed chlorine gas you should
see a heavy gas forcing itself into the ammonia beaker creating generous amounts of ammonium chloride, im just supposing NOCl wouldnt be as heavy as
chlorine
sulfuric acid could also be added to the supposed chlorate composition, in a such way excess chlorate is present, if its nitrate it wont etch
aluminium, but if its chlorate it should
Extract aluminum powder from firecrackers
johncena - 27-3-2016 at 10:46
Hi everyone! I've been asking myself thsi question for quite a lot of time - is it possible to extract aluminum powder from firecracker powder? I
think my firecracker powder has probably Al/KCLO4/S . I tried putting the powder in hot water and eventually dissolving the potassium perchlorate and
leaving the aluminum and sulfur behind, but it didn't work - the powder simply stayed on top of the water and the mixture didn't get even wet. I know
aluminium powder can be bought online, however, I'm not really keen on internet shopping (sh*tty country). If you have any ideas, please tell me!
johncena IceDahl - 27-3-2016 at 11:45
Sandpaper on Aluminium. elementcollector1 - 27-3-2016 at 12:13
Contaminates it with sand, is slow, tedious and work-intensive.
Better idea: Contact the local welding/metal fabrication shop for aluminum turnings on whatever lathe/drill/etc. they use. Put these into a coffee
grinder. Done.Tsjerk - 27-3-2016 at 12:25
Maybe the powder is coated with some kind of hydrophobic stuff. Try to dissolve it in warm toluene (dissolves sulfur) and then in water.IceDahl - 27-3-2016 at 12:41
If you can find a cheap coffee grinder you can but some foil in there an hope for the best. johncena - 27-3-2016 at 12:52
Maybe the powder is coated with some kind of hydrophobic stuff. Try to dissolve it in warm toluene (dissolves sulfur) and then in water.
Yeah, probably, but sadly I don't have any toluene around me. I should do a little more research.
Useful chemicals from firecracker powder
johncena - 30-12-2016 at 12:45
Hello everyone! New Year's coming and I bought some packs of firecrackers, but I was kinda curious to see what was inside them and as I expected they
were full of flash powder and clay. I'm not interested in the clay but in the flash powder. I did some research in Google and found that it might
contain KNO3, Al and probably sulfur because after lighting it up there's a strong suffocating aroma of SO2. The substance that really got my
attention was the aluminium powder. I'm interested in thermite reactions so why would I buy it from the internet and pay so much money when I can
obtain it from MUUCH cheaper sources... Anyway, I tried dissolving the water-soluble parts of the flash powder in water (the potassium nitrate) but
what I ended up was powder that wasn't wetting and it was staying on the surface of the water. I don't know how I can extract the aluminium powder...
I only have water/alcohol/acetone/ethyl acetate as solvents and somewhere I heard that toluene might be used (where the f*ck can I get this?? Also I
don't like to work with carcinogenic stuff.)... Maybe there's a hydrophobic additive to prevent the nitrate from dissolving in water and removing its
hygroscopicity? I don't know, please post if you know anything!
