Substances NOT To Be Messed With ...

[Tyrannical]

Pigs. Biological machines for turning inconvenient humans into tasty bacon. I'm just sayin.

Ah yes, the preferred Muslim burial method.

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

Wood chipper. Just point it at a hole in the ground, throw your problem in one end and the 'solution' will come out of the other. Sorted in seconds and environmentaly friendly...just clean it off with a hose and return it to wherever you hired it from.


Re dangerous substances - Has anyone here ever made any nitrogen triiodide? Sounds fun.

I Buscemi what you did there.

I don't even...

[Seth]

My dad told me that he and some of his friends made nitroglycerin in chemistry at Iowa State in the 30s, and had great fun blowing pockmarks in the sidewalk outside the third-story lab window using an eyedropper.

I guess I'm lucky to be here at all.



I blew up a tree that was blocking the creek on the ranch one time using a binary explosive called "Kinepack", which is ammonium nitrate in a foil packet that you mix with a liquid (carbon tetrachloride I believe, or nitromethane...I can't remember now) and let sit for 20 minutes to activate.

I drilled holes in the trunk and used about six packs. Problem was all I had to detonate the blasting caps was a surplus Vietnam war claymore mine clacker and a hundred feet of wire. So I hid behind another tree trunk and set off the charge as my friends watched from about 100 yards away. Worked perfectly and the tree disappeared. Right after the blast I stepped out to give the thumbs up to my friends, who were jumping up and down, pointing into the air and gesticulating wildly. I was puzzled by this and just stood there, and a few moments later a chunk of wood three feet long and ten inches around smacked into the ground four feet from me. Seems it was blown so high it took about 20 seconds to come down.

That was back in the good old days when if you were a farmer you could get an explosives permit from the state by sending in a letter asking for one and blow up whatever you wanted.

Kinda miss those days.

[JimC]

Wood chipper. Just point it at a hole in the ground, throw your problem in one end and the 'solution' will come out of the other. Sorted in seconds and environmentaly friendly...just clean it off with a hose and return it to wherever you hired it from.


Re dangerous substances - Has anyone here ever made any nitrogen triiodide? Sounds fun.

If that's touch powder, a friend made some when we were kids...

Very sensitive stuff...

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

Wood chipper. Just point it at a hole in the ground, throw your problem in one end and the 'solution' will come out of the other. Sorted in seconds and environmentaly friendly...just clean it off with a hose and return it to wherever you hired it from.


Re dangerous substances - Has anyone here ever made any nitrogen triiodide? Sounds fun.

If that's touch powder, a friend made some when we were kids...

Very sensitive stuff...

That's another name for it, I think.
I understand that if you make too much in one batch then it will detonate under it's own weight.

[Calilasseia]

Of course, the one you all want to avoid, is chlorine trifluoride. This compound reacts violently and exothermically with substances you would not think capable of being combusted. Spray it on snow, and you find yourself seeing the apparently impossible - snow burning. It will also cause asbestos blocks to begin combustion, and if it is sprayed onto sand, hey presto, the sand catches fire. Here's a video, put together by some French chemists, illustrating what happens when ClF3 comes into contact with a range of substrates. In order, we have:

Plexiglas
Rubber gloves
Clean leather gloves
Dirty leather gloves
A gas mask
Wood
A wet glove

Enjoy the fireworks.



EDIT: For your additional amusement ...Sand won't save you this time ...

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

What the fuck do you keep it in?

[Svartalf]

read the article... properly treated metallic cans seem to be the solution... or quartz vessels, so long as the thing is at room temperature (or up to 180°C)

[Calilasseia]

Metal vessels whose interiors have been pre-fluoridated by something less vicious. By forming a protective fluoride layer on the inside of a stainless steel vessel, you render the vessel safe from attack, because the only substances this chemical can't attack are those that have already been well and truly fluorinated. However, you need to handle the vessel with care: if any part of that protective fluoride layer is accidentally damaged, all hell breaks loose.

I suspect Teflon may be impervious to attack by ClF3 too, on account of the fact that Teflon is also heavily fluoridated. Teflon, otherwise known as PTFE (polytetrafluoroethene) is formed by polymerising the compound C2F4, and the resulting polymer is wonderfully chemically inert. However, it's possible that ClF3 could be powerful enough to break down the polymer and release tetrafluoromethane from the reaction. Personally, I'd prefer for someone else to perform this empirical test. Preferably whilst I'm on a different continental land mass.

[Svartalf]

Either the article you posted or the wiki mentioned that teflon is not impervious to ClF3 ... I suspect the fluoride in it to be too volatile for to withstand the reagent's violence.

EDIT, the wiki, first line of the "Hazards" section.

[Calilasseia]

Just downloaded this nice little document, which covers the hazards of this material nicely.

From that document, we have this nice report:

During the liquid rocket propellant era, a major incident involving ClF3 occurred the first time a one-ton steel container was loaded with liquid ClF3 for bulk shipment. The container had been cooled with dry ice to perform the liquid transfer and help make the product safer to handle, since the ClF3 vapor pressure would only be about 0.007 kg/cm2 (0.1 psia) in the subcooled state. However, the dry ice bath embrittled the steel container wall, which split while it was being maneuvered onto a dolly, instantaneously releasing 907 kg (2,000 lb) of cold ClF3 liquid onto the building floor. The ClF3 dissolved the 30 cm (12 inch) thick concrete floor and another 90 cm (36 inches) of gravel underneath the spill. The fumes that were generated (chlorine trifluoride, hydrogen fluoride, chlorine, hydrogen chloride, etc.) severely corroded everything that was exposed.3 One eyewitness described the incident by stating, “The concrete was on fire!”

[JimC]

Somewhere in the Universe there will be creatures who either swim in ClF3, or breath it...

They would regard an O2 atmosphere as hellish...

[Calilasseia]

I think H. R. Giger's already covered that base ...

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Wood chipper. Just point it at a hole in the ground, throw your problem in one end and the 'solution' will come out of the other. Sorted in seconds and environmentaly friendly...just clean it off with a hose and return it to wherever you hired it from.


Re dangerous substances - Has anyone here ever made any nitrogen triiodide? Sounds fun.

I Buscemi what you did there.

I don't even...

Watch "Fargo".

[Mysturji]

Pigs. Biological machines for turning inconvenient humans into tasty bacon. I'm just sayin.

In New Guinea they like the more direct approach...

Don't mess with New Guinea pigs.