NEMO-Chemistry
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What is 'Magicians' powder?
Sorry for the title! I unsure what the actual powder would be classed as. To me i would be tempted to call it 'Flash' powder, however i am not sure it
is called that.
I am looking for the composition of the powders that magicians use in shows, the type that they sprinkle onto an ignition source and you get a flash
of colour and a little smoke.
From what i have seen it looks fairly tame (no gloves and dosnt seem to energetic). Its for something i am doing for a show and tell at a primary
school.
I would like to have some that gives a red and one that gives a green colour.
Is this what is known as flash powder or do you energetic guys call it something else? I am definitely 100% DO NOT want anything dangerous! just a
quick flash of colour and a little smoke, the area is a school with a high ceiling and for the amount that would be used i would say very well
ventilated.
This probably should go in beginners?? but hopefully it will develop into something that belongs here.
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Texium
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That does sound like flash powder. For indoor use they most likely use a food grade composition (lacking chlorates and toxic heavy metal salts).
Unfortunately, because of that, you probably wouldn't be able to get a nice green as your go-to would be barium or copper for that. Adding a bit of
boric acid might work, but I think it would probably be kinda pathetic and could hinder the flash powder. You'd have to use ammonium nitrate
as the oxidizer for it so as not to introduce any other colors to the flame. Red could be accomplished by using lithium nitrate as the oxidizer, as
lithium isn't very toxic. You wouldn't want to use strontium, though it is more readily available and produces a truer red.
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XeonTheMGPony
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complex but a nitrocellulose metal carbonate mix would be viable, would require some sort of milling to return it to a fine powder.
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Sulaiman
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maybe a little nitrocelulose / gun cotton and food powder dyes/pigments that gets 'POOFed' into the air?
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PHILOU Zrealone
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Nitrocellulose with CuCl2, BaCl2 and/or B(OH)3 (H3BO3) for the green.
Nitrocellulose with LiCl and/or SrCl2 for the red.
Use a little aceton for the kneeding and homogenous mixing...roll it plat on a big PE plastic surface and allow to dry then cut in tiny squares for
use.
Store in a closed hermetic vessel after drying.
PH Z (PHILOU Zrealone)
"Physic is all what never works; Chemistry is all what stinks and explodes!"-"Life that deadly disease, sexually transmitted."(W.Allen)
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NEMO-Chemistry
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Excellent! Thanks alot guys!
The room/hall is large and i am using tiny amounts, long storey short its just a 'magic spell; over a box with fairy dust inside.
Trust me it isnt as mad as it sounds lol, age range is around 7-9 for the audience. The hall is very large as the school is old, so really nice high
ceilings with roof lights in i can have open.
The chlorides sound good, i do have some Barium Nitrate and a few others, so making the chloride (or buying if needed) is do able.
Not sure if i mentioned this elsewhere but the experiment 'show' has a part where i mix a clear solution of calcium chloride to a solution of sodium
hydroxide. This gives me a precipitate of calcium hydroxide from what would seems like water (this is the fairy dust).
Then i pour the solution into what looks like an empty boiling tube (it will have a tiny crystal of permanganate in), and place a box over the top of
it.
this is flash one, i make a red flash and a puff of smoke and as i lift the box i shake the tube.
They see white fairy dust has gone red/pink. I give a loads of bollocks to the audience for a couple of mins then place back in the box.
A few more words of bolox and i do the green the green flash, lift the box and behold the red fairy dust is now green  .
I have been practising with my younger siblings (one will be in the audience) without the flash. I have it the timing down pretty good now for the
colour change and have become adept at lifting the box and shaking the tube so the audience dosnt see it.
My sister loves the demo and she mentioned 'real magicians' use flashes to make spells work (she is aware its chemistry really), so i figured the
flashes would make it a bit more special.
I am working on a couple of more simple chemistry demos for them but this one is just about perfected (as far as i am able).
The whole thing is around 50 mins.
Anyway i appreciate the advice, i will start looking up how to make the powders and practice with them. I have 3 weeks to get it done.
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XeonTheMGPony
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Nice thing about well prepared Nitrocellulose is it is very safe, fairly cool burning and predictable so long as you take proper care in the making of
it!
As PhiLou stated acetone is the wonder chem for it, makes mixing easy, and now the brain is running better, while it is still pliable you could knead
it through a fine mesh screen a few times to mill it to a more dust like consistency. When fully dry it feels like plastic, so it will retain the
shape very well.
Adding a smidge of nitroglycerin improves its burn characteristics by a huge degree, try it with out first then try it wich a couple cc added tot he
batch.
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Bert
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Thread Moved
16-8-2016 at 21:52 |
Scalebar
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I've just done my stage pyro certificate , most of the indoor flash mixes are K perchlorate based with often nitrate based colouring agents - the MSDS
handily lists the ingredients. I normally use just Aluminium and potassium nitrate (1:3 ) but I wouldn't want to sprinkle it onto a flame.
You can also get a 'sparkle powder' which is meant to be added to nitrocellulose products and is made up of a flame colourant and Al or Fe powder.
Commercial nitrocellulose is easily enough obtained from magic supply shops - I don't bother with making my own when it only costs a pound a gram to
buy. I've dusted flash cotton with dark Al powder for a whiter flash. For ignition I usually palm a ball of the stuff and wave my hand over a flame,
you can get all sorts of finger flash devices from supply shops - including ones that shoot a jet of lycopodium for a fireball.
Whatever you use, make sure to try it out well ahead of time and do a paper test - cover the floor with paper and set some off so you get an idea of
potential for hot fall out.
Handy tip - use a small pad of flash cotton or fast flash paper under your flash composition for a smoother ignition and a better 'foof!'
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NEMO-Chemistry
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Some really good ideas! I will give them a go, the paper on the floor idea is great.
I will get some things ordered later today, i have some but not others like lycopodium powder. I think that the natural fine dust you can buy??
I will give all the ideas a go and see what my younger siblings think ,
strictly speaking its my little sisters 'show and tell' at school, she is just using me to do it. Or maybe i am the show and tell lol, the line is
very blurred!
I havnt made nitro anything before or anything remotely firework or energetic. I am pretty sure nitro glycerine would be illegal in the UK, not that i
would discount using it for this.
But i need to watch some videos and try things out first. I have managed to find a wick material that when used with methanol or ethanol is really
hard to see the flame, i will also hunt around and see what other ignition sources are around.
Thanks for the ideas, it wasnt something i was fixed on doing, but if i can pull it off properly then i think it will grab them a bit more.
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