Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Can sulfur trioxide be stored under paraffin at room temperature?

unionised - 19-9-2016 at 12:40

It would produce a mixture of an oxidant and a fuel.
Not a game I'd play.

buuun - 19-9-2016 at 12:46

Quote: Originally posted by unionised  
It would produce a mixture of an oxidant and a fuel.
Not a game I'd play.


Well, that's thing to consider. What other solvent would you recommend?
And according to the synthesis of alkane sulfonic acids, it'd take "prolonged heating" for it to react at all.

Edit: Going by the "energetic materials" section, it doesn't seem like paraffin would be too much of a problem with oxidizers. One substance named Cheddite is made of paraffin and potassium chlorate, and it takes a strong initial blast to set it off.

[Edited on 19-9-2016 by buuun]

careysub - 19-9-2016 at 13:10

Do you want a solvent, or something to store it under? Not the same thing.

For storing it under, you might consider Fluorinert:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorinert

A 3 gallon can on eBay right now goes for $1850, though.

R141b refrigerant is available at much lower prices, but if boils at 90 F.

Chlorinated hydrocarbons might work (see USP 2928836).

Other solvents I find - liquid sulfur dioxide, and molten sulfur have obvious shortcomings.

[Edited on 19-9-2016 by careysub]

unionised - 19-9-2016 at 13:15

Quote: Originally posted by buuun  
Quote: Originally posted by unionised  
It would produce a mixture of an oxidant and a fuel.
Not a game I'd play.

it doesn't seem like paraffin would be too much of a problem with oxidizers.

[Edited on 19-9-2016 by buuun]

That's absurd.
ANFO doesn't take that much initiation.
Seriously, why store it under anything?

Maroboduus - 19-9-2016 at 13:21

How about just storing it in Sulphuric acid? Sounds easy enough to distill it back out if and when it's needed. Don't know if you want to store it for future use, or if you just want some for display purposes. I've got to admit that a bottle of 25% oleum would be a pretty lame way to display an SO3 sample.

Dan Vizine - 10-10-2016 at 12:30

[/rquote]Seriously, why store it under anything?[/rquote]

We never did. No need to. Best to store it in a bottle such that it occupies most of the volume, though.

aga - 10-10-2016 at 12:36

SO3 isn't meant to be stored, certainly not by an amateur.

Definitely not by an amateur who deleted their opening post on the subject.

Texium - 10-10-2016 at 21:52

Quote: Originally posted by aga  
Definitely not by an amateur who deleted their opening post on the subject.
Yes, technically that's grounds for sending it to Detritus, but I think I'll just put it in Beginnings since it has generated some discussion.