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SuperOxide
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What reagents would you bring during an apocalyptic scenario?
If you woke up and found yourself in an apocalyptic scenario of unknown cause (powers out everywhere, you're hearing that there's some pandemonium on
its way, and you need to leave asap before things get violent). What chemicals from your inventory would you bring with you and why?
Ill start:
Iodine - for it's antiseptic capabilities
Activated Carbon - to filter water
Ether or chloroform - as an anaesthetic for if anyone needed to do some crude medical stuff (stitches, setting broken bones,
etc)
Magnesium turnings - Help start fires.
Zirconium - Also to help start fires (as a flint)
Nitrates (ammonium, potassium) - Useful for if I ever need to make boom powder.
P.S. I didn't see any "Off Topic" categories, so I put it in Miscellaneous. Hope this is ok. I know it's not exactly chemistry related, but it's a fun
one :-D
[Edited on 14-8-2022 by SuperOxide]
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Lion850
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Potassium permanganate is recommended as a 'survival' chemical on various sites:
- Water purification
- Fire starting
- Medical use as disinfectant
- Location marking (but probably works best on snow)
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Rainwater
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Owww that is A Good question. To survive, or to live.
alkalis can be made with fire ash. Sulfuric Acid with sulfur and fire. Most other acids from salts and h2so4
Clays are everywhere. Dam back to the stone age save what I can carry. So whats the choice? Ready made reagents or, the basics needed to make
reagents. Its all about opportunities and knowledge. No youtube, no more google. No quick research with a few strokes of the hand
My chemistry books
"You can't do that" - challenge accepted
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DraconicAcid
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Probably lots of food-grade ethanol.
Please remember: "Filtrate" is not a verb.
Write up your lab reports the way your instructor wants them, not the way your ex-instructor wants them.
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SuperOxide
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Quote: Originally posted by Lion850  | Potassium permanganate is recommended as a 'survival' chemical on various sites:
- Water purification
- Fire starting
- Medical use as disinfectant
- Location marking (but probably works best on snow) |
Very true. I've heard that PotPerm is used for water purification but never looked into how it's used to do that. Does one just add it to the
water and drink the purple water? lol.
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Jenks
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If chemicals for survival include food and drugs, that would increase the list.
Essential vitamins like ascorbic acid (vitamin C)
Basic medications like caffeine, diphenhydramine, iboprofen, etc.
And then there is the idea that the world could devolve into one without currency, so to barter, anything with high value density would be useful,
like bars of gold, etc.
It's hard to anticipate what would be needed because they would depend so much on the specifics of the situation, like whether one can stay in their
home or has to become a nomad, whether one is physically safe, whether power, food and/or water are available, etc. Will the disaster be due to war,
plague, or civil unrest? When I've tried to think through "prepper" scenarios, I get bogged down with these uncertainties and have to keep it simple.
And I haven't done much, as I always seem to be too busy. One scenario would be a nuclear incident and having to deal with fallout, so in that case I
would definitely grab my nuclear radiation detector and maybe a few reference samples to make sure it is working. And iodine, of course.
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arkoma
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To start with:
H2SO4
NaOH
KNO3
can do a lot with these three, have plenty of them, and all three a pain in the arse to quickly synthesize/purify.
And of course, EtOH!!
"We believe the knowledge and cultural heritage of mankind should be accessible to all people around the world, regardless of their wealth, social
status, nationality, citizenship, etc" z-lib
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SuperOxide
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| Quote: Originally posted by arkoma | To start with:
H2SO4
NaOH
KNO3
can do a lot with these three, have plenty of them, and all three a pain in the arse to quickly synthesize/purify.
And of course, EtOH!! |
What would you use the H2SO4 for? I think you're thinking about doing reactions or synthesizing some reagents mid apocalypse, lol. Im not sure how
well that would work out.
| Quote: Originally posted by Jenks | | And then there is the idea that the world could devolve into one without currency, so to barter, anything with high value density would be useful,
like bars of gold, etc. |
Yeah, I was thinking more of like.. survival kinda stuff. Think Walking Dead, if you had to be on the road with them, what stuff would you want to
bring?
Also... I'll add some to my list:
Iodine - for it's antiseptic capabilities
Activated Carbon - to filter water
Ether or chloroform - as an anaesthetic for if anyone needed to do some crude medical stuff (stitches, setting broken bones,
etc)
Magnesium turnings - Help start fires.
Zirconium - Also to help start fires (as a flint)
Nitrates (ammonium, potassium) - Useful for if I ever need to make boom powder.
Salicylic acid - For its antiseptic capabilities.
Red and white phosphorus - I honestly have no idea what this would be useful for, since I only have
like 25g of wP and 60g or rP, but I'm bringin em!
[Edited on 15-8-2022 by SuperOxide]
[Edited on 15-8-2022 by SuperOxide]
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OneEyedPyro
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Ethanol times four to put off the anxiety of my certain doom.
Water in case I get thirsty.
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zwt2
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Medications and micronutrients probably provide the best value for their size; you can carry enough to last years in your pockets.
| Quote: Originally posted by SuperOxide | | I've heard that PotPerm is used for water purification but never looked into how it's used to do that. Does one just add it to the water and
drink the purple water? lol. |
Yes. In an emergency where you don't have access to anything better (including laundry bleach) and can't just boil the water, purple water is
better than waterborne illnesses, although really you should only use enough to turn the water slightly pink, and the pink should fade over time as
the permanganate is reduced. I wouldn't rely on it long-term (the risks would include manganese poisoning and oxidative damage to internal organs, the
latter leading to increase risk of ulcers, cancer, etc), and other options should be available in an "apocalyptic" scenario, including just leaving small plastic bottles of water out in direct sunlight all day.
| Quote: Originally posted by SuperOxide |
Yeah, I was thinking more of like.. survival kinda stuff. Think Walking Dead, if you had to be on the road with them, what stuff would you want to
bring?
|
That sounds more like a backpacking trip than an apocalypse. If it'll take more than a few weeks for society to recover, then it doesn't matter much
what you take with you, because you'll run out of everything eventually. In an "end of the world" scenario, scientific knowledge would be far more
valuable than any reagents. At least two likely "apocalyptic" scenarios would effectively destroy the internet (those being nuclear war and solar
coronal mass ejection), and books are bulky and fragile. It's better to know how to make ether and chloroform from widely-available substances than to
just bring some with you, better to learn a variety of firemaking techniques than to rely on some specialty firestarter that could be lost or stolen,
and better to know how to make charcoal and treat water by alternative means than to rely on consumable charcoal filters.
"Since you belong to the small number of wise men... tell me, how do you occupy yourselves?"
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SuperOxide
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| Quote: Originally posted by zwt2 | | Quote: Originally posted by SuperOxide |
Yeah, I was thinking more of like.. survival kinda stuff. Think Walking Dead, if you had to be on the road with them, what stuff would you want to
bring?
|
That sounds more like a backpacking trip than an apocalypse. If it'll take more than a few weeks for society to recover, then it doesn't matter much
what you take with you, because you'll run out of everything eventually. In an "end of the world" scenario, scientific knowledge would be far more
valuable than any reagents. At least two likely "apocalyptic" scenarios would effectively destroy the internet (those being nuclear war and solar
coronal mass ejection), and books are bulky and fragile. It's better to know how to make ether and chloroform from widely-available substances than to
just bring some with you, better to learn a variety of firemaking techniques than to rely on some specialty firestarter that could be lost or stolen,
and better to know how to make charcoal and treat water by alternative means than to rely on consumable charcoal filters.
|
Yeah, that's true. But I didn't put too much thought into this topic, lol. I was just watching some old The Walking Dead episodes thinking "Hmm.... if
I had to leave with this group, what reagents would I bring with me". Just a fun thought.
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Keras
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Potassium permanganate can be used both as an antiseptic (diluted) and to start a fire.
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draculic acid69
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To add to the list: Glycerine, bleach, detergents,soaps,trygicerides,butane, isooctane,
salt, acetic acid,
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SuperOxide
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Hey buddy, read the rules! You must say why you're bringing each ;-)
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draculic acid69
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Glycerine for use with the permanganate as a fire starter
Bleach for disinfecting water or other things,(Mn ions causing Parkinson like symptoms is not something I want to experience)
Detergents & soaps to keep things and myself clean (zombie apocalypse is no excuse to neglect basic hygiene)
Trygicerides are a basis of food and cooking (not everything can be skewered and grilled over fire)
Butane and isooctane (gas stove or fuel for a vehicle/generator)
Salt, acetic acid are the basis of canning which is a major survival
technique.
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Jenks
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Sorry this is getting off topic, but one thing I thought would be great to have in a famine would be a cache of vegetable oil, due to its high energy
density. It wouldn't be hard to stockpile a year's worth of calories in one-gallon cans. But it isn't so easy when this is multiplied by the number of
family members, or extended family, etc. That is a consideration for all the emergency items - having enough to share.
Would SuperOxide mind if we extended this topic to laboratory equipment? Some of it seems like it would make useful tools.
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SuperOxide
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| Quote: Originally posted by Jenks |
Would SuperOxide mind if we extended this topic to laboratory equipment? Some of it seems like it would make useful tools. |
I think the main thing I was thinking about was Bug-out bag kinda stuff. But I suppose a little bit of glassware wouldn't hurt.
It would be hard to bring a little bit of glassware without needing more though. I guess maybe a retort would do some good.
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draculic acid69
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karlos³
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I'm bringing reagents to an apocalypic scenario and I choose....
Hmmm....
I bring two 25kg drums of each sodium borohydride and N-bromosuccinmide!
Why? Why not!
Those are literally two of the most useful and very versatile reagents, there is no apocalyptic scenario possible in which we would say "oh no, not
borohydride and NBS, we have no idea what we can do with it!" 
Like, fuel-cell battery for a vehicle with the borohydride(commercial batteries for campers and such contain around 900g's of borohydride, usually the
sodium cation, as despite given a higher ratio of cation to BH4 ratio with Li(less than a third of Na's mass), its more costly.
NBS is an oxidizer, besides obviously being a brominating reagent as well... so guess water purification is in its scope too?
Not the preferred thing to use, probably bad aftertaste or something, but hey, with 25kg of it, you are happy being able to drink anything at all
without getting sick, no?
Uh, and I wonder if you throw a tiny bit of each together, if it could start a fire?
Haha!
If, then we have another use for them!
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yobbo II
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A large tank of hydrocarbon fuel
To stay warm
Yob
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SuperOxide
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| Quote: Originally posted by karlos³ | I'm bringing reagents to an apocalypic scenario and I choose....
Hmmm....
I bring two 25kg drums of each sodium borohydride and N-bromosuccinmide!
Why? Why not!
Those are literally two of the most useful and very versatile reagents, there is no apocalyptic scenario possible in which we would say "oh no, not
borohydride and NBS, we have no idea what we can do with it!"
Like, fuel-cell battery for a vehicle with the borohydride(commercial batteries for campers and such contain around 900g's of borohydride, usually the
sodium cation, as despite given a higher ratio of cation to BH4 ratio with Li(less than a third of Na's mass), its more costly.
NBS is an oxidizer, besides obviously being a brominating reagent as well... so guess water purification is in its scope too?
Not the preferred thing to use, probably bad aftertaste or something, but hey, with 25kg of it, you are happy being able to drink anything at all
without getting sick, no?
Uh, and I wonder if you throw a tiny bit of each together, if it could start a fire?
Haha!
If, then we have another use for them! |
Very creative, lol. I have like 100g of sodium borohydride, ill be sure to bring it! No N-bromosuccinimide tho...
[Edited on 20-8-2022 by SuperOxide]
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Herr Haber
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When I offered to make KI individual doses I discovered people would actually be more interested in NaCN in case of apocalypse.
Weird.
The spirit of adventure was upon me. Having nitric acid and copper, I had only to learn what the words 'act upon' meant. - Ira Remsen
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SuperOxide
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| Quote: Originally posted by Herr Haber | When I offered to make KI individual doses I discovered people would actually be more interested in NaCN in case of apocalypse.
Weird. |
I wonder what NaCN would be useful for? I have like a kg of it, wondering if I should put some in my bug-out bag (kidding).
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Keras
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Don’t forget vitamins. In a novel like ‘The Road’, where every vegetal and animal life has disappeared, and ssurvivors live off tinned food (or
cannibalism…), vitamin C would be in short supply, and everyone would die from scurvy sooner or later.
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karlos³
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| Quote: Originally posted by Keras | | Don’t forget vitamins. In a novel like ‘The Road’, where every vegetal and animal life has disappeared, and ssurvivors live off tinned food (or
cannibalism…), vitamin C would be in short supply, and everyone would die from scurvy sooner or later. |
In such a world, honestly, I would be on team NaCN too, I guess 
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