77 lines
3.5 KiB
Plaintext
77 lines
3.5 KiB
Plaintext
Nitroglycerin Recipe
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By King Arthur
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Like all chemists I must advise you all to take the greatest care
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and caution when you are doing this. Even if you have made this stuff
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before.
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This first article will give you information on making
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nitroglyerin, the basic ingredient in a lot of explosives such as
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straight dynamites, and geletin dynamites.
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Making nitroglycerin
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1. Fill a 75-milliliter beaker to the 13 ml. Level with fuming
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red nitric acid, of 98% pure concentration.
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2. Place the beaker in an ice bath and allow to cool below room
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temp.
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3. After it has cooled, add to it three times the amount of
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fuming sulferic acid (99% h2so4). In other words, add to the
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now-cool fuming nitric acid 39 ml. Of fuming sulferic acid.
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When mixing any acids, always do it slowly and carefully to
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avoid splattering.
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4. When the two are mixed, lower thier temp. By adding more ice
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to the bath, about 10-15 degrees centigrade. (Use a
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mercury-operated thermometer)
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5. When the acid solution has cooled to the desired temperature,
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it is ready for the glycerin. The glycerin must be added in
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small amounts using a medicine dropper. (Read this step about
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10 times!) Glycerin is added slowly and carefully (i mean
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careful!) Until the entire surface of the acid it covered with
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it.
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6. This is a dangerous point since the nitration will take place
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as soon as the glycerin is added. The nitration will produce
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heat, so the solution must be kept below 30 degrees
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centigrade! If the solution should go above 30 degrees,
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immediately dump the solution into the ice bath! This will
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insure that it does not go off in your face!
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7. For hte first ten minutes of nitration, the mixture should be
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gently stirred. In a normal reaction the nitroglycerin will
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formas a layer on top of the acid solution, while the sulferic
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acid will absorb the excess water.
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8. After the nitration has taken place, and the nitroglycerin has
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formed on the top of the solution, the entire beaker should be
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transferred slowly and carefully to another beaker of water.
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When this is done the nitroglycerin will settle at the bottem
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so the other acids can be drained away.
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9. After removing as much acid as posible without disturbing the
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nitroglycerin, remove the nitroglycerin with an eyedropper and
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place it in a bicarbonate of soda (sodium bicarbonate in case
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you didn't know) solution. The sodium is an alkalai and will
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nuetralize much of the acid remaining. This process should be
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repeated as much as necesarry using blue litmus paper to check
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for the presence of acid. The remaining acid only makes the
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nitroglycerin more unstable than it already is.
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10. Finally! The final step is to remove the nitroglycerin from
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the bicarbonate. His is done with and eye- dropper, slowly
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and carefully. The usual test to see if nitration has been
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successful is to place one drop of the nitroglycerin on metal
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and ignite it. If it is true nitroglycerin it will burn with
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a clear blue flame.
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** Caution **
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nitro is very sensative to decomposition, heating dropping, or
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jarring, and may explode if left undisturbed and cool.
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