161 lines
9.5 KiB
Plaintext
161 lines
9.5 KiB
Plaintext
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Making Nitroglycerin (an actual method)
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by: Simon
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3-18-2004
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Well, this is my first text file. I am not a computer user, but luckily I have plenty
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of typing experience on my IBM Typewritter. Let me first explain exactly why I am writing this;
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I am visiting my relatives here in California, I am from Texas. I made mention of the fact that
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I know how to make Nitroglycerin to one of my cousins, he wanted to know how. So he asked me to
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get on his computer, and write it down so he could submit it on the internet.
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He showed me a few things on the computer that he had on how to make nitroglycerin,
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"the anarchist cookbook" he says. Well, that's not the real way. I am from Texas, and I did
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grow up knowing how to make Nitroglycerin, and it is actually very simple. I'm no chemist, and
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I can do it. Of course I don't go doing bad things with it, it is quite useful when tearing
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down an old house, or shed. I usually use my nitroglycerin batches for blasting large rocks out
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of the ground when I am digging large holes by hand (lots of rocks in Texas).
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Anyway, so here is how to make Nitroglycerin.
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Ok, now let me tell you first off that I have never had a nitroglycerin reaction go
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wrong. I feel totally safe when making nitroglycerin, there really is nothing dangerous about
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doing this, as long as you use some Common Sense in safety. Like not shaking liquids.
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This stuff was first made in the middle of the 1800s. That says alot if you consider
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the very simple, rough materials and equipment that they had at the time. Anyone who has not
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been dropped on their head can easily become a master at this. Just as long as you follow the
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directions, nothing can really go wrong.
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Ok, first a list of things that you're going to need:
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--Lots of Ice
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--Nitric Acid (Concentrated)
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--Sulfuric Acid (Concentrated)
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--Glycerin (with NO water)
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--Bucket of Water
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--Styrofoam Container (the ones for beer)
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--Pint Sized Glass Flask
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--A 2000mL Seperatory Funnel (easy to come by in catalogs)
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--Distilled Water
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--Thermometer
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First, keep the bucket of water close, if something does go wrong, you can drown it out
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with water. This will not happen, as long as you are not a complete dumbass.
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You must remember that you CAN NOT have glycerin that has water in it. You must have
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actual glycerin. Find a chemical supplier that supplies pure glycerin.
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Note that you are constantly using the seperatory funnel. After you use it once, clean
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it, then use it again 20 minutes later. You are going to have to clean it and use it about 3
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times.
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Fill the Styrofoam Container half way full of Ice. This container will be used to cool
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your flask with all the chemicals in it. The chemicals being cold is 100% REQUIRED. If the
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ingredients are not cold when mixed, other reactions can take place, and your mixture could
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explode. This is easily avoided by doing what I just said: fill the Styrofoam Container half
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way full of Ice.
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Put your Nitric Acid and Sulfuric Acid in the freezer for a while before mixing them
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in the flask. That way you do not have to sit around and wait for them to get cold. Burry your
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glass flask in the ice (ice bath), pour in 200mL concentrated sulfuric acid, and 100mL of
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concentrated nitric acid, they are mixed together by swirling the container a bit, or mixing
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with a glass rod, or the thermometer. This mixing will warm them up a bit, but they will
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quickly cool in the ice bath. When the temperature of the acids is 40F, the glycerin can be
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added. 50mL of glycerin is measured out, and added to the Nitric Acid and Sulfuric Acid
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mixture 5mL at a time. The best way to do this is to run the small amounts of glycerin down
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the inside of the glass, so it gradually pours into the acids. The glass flask is tilted at an
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angle, and turned like a concrete mixer (using your hands) while you pour the glycerin in. DO
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NOT pour the glycerin into the acids all at once, or even in 5mL globules. You must slowly add
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it to the acid mixtures. If the glycerin builds up in one spot, a runaway reaction can occour,
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so make sure to pour it in very slowly as I stated above. Be Gentle.
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Do this until you have added all the glycerin. It takes about 25 minutes, adding ten
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portions of glycerin of about 5mL each. The temperature of the acids and glycerin inside the
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flask should be watched closely. It should not be allowed to rise above 50F. If it gets too
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close to this temperature, the adding of glycerin should stop immidiatly, and the mixing
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continued with the flask nestled in the ice bath until the temperature drops back down to
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around 40F.
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Under NO circumstances may it be thought that you can add the nitric acid, sulfuric
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acid, and glycerin at the same time. To add all three chemicals at once will result in a sure
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death I am assuming. I really don't know what would happen, I just know that it would be very
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bad. (My lack in knowledge of this is because I have never been stupid enough to actually do
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it).
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When all the glycerin has been added, a milky colored solution will be formed with
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little globules of pure nitroglycerin throughout the mixture. After the glycerin has been
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added, the mix can be allowed to warm up a bit. It can be taken out of it's ice bath, and
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allowed to rise around the 50s F. You should stir occasionally during this time.
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About 25 minutes after the last bit of glycerin has been added, you can consider the
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reaction to be done. Now is time for the purification process.
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First, get a little over quart of cold distilled water, and put it in a 2000mL
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seperatory funnel. Pour your nitroglycerin batch into the seperatory funnel with the water. Let
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it sit for a bit, the bottom Oil type layer is the nitroglycerin. A small amount of the
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nitroglycerin stays floating at the top of the water, just splash the water around the small
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droplets of nitroglycerin with a glass stirring rod, and they will sink to the bottom. When all
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of the Nitroglycerin has seperated from the acid and water, you can release the stopcock on the
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bottom of the sep funnel, and drain out the nitroglycerin into a glass container. You must NOT
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allow any of the other top layer into the jar with the nitroglycerin, because the entire point
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is to seperate the nitroglycerin from the acids.
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The seperated nitroglycerin is added to a cup of cold distilled water, and allowed to
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sit for a little while. The water will soak up more acid from the nitroglycerin, that is the
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point of mixing all of this with water: to seperate the acids away from the nitroglycerin. It
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is good to cause the nitro to flow around on the bottom of its new container every once in a
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while, so that it is not the same old surface exposed to the water all the time. This water
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bath should take no more than about an hour.
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pour the nitroglycerin/distilled water back into the sep funnel, and seperate the
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bottom Nitroglycerin layer from the water/acid layer. Again, be sure to only allow the
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nitroglycerin to drain.
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Take 10 grams of Arm & Hammer, and add it to a cup of distilled water in the sep
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funnel, mixing it until it is totally dissolved (this is your bicarb solution). The
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nitroglycerin still has some acid left in it, and this solution will help pull all of it out.
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If there is still acid left in the nitroglycerin, the nitroglycerin will not keep, it will
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break down. If you skip any of these purification steps, you will have a crappy nitroglycerin
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that will probably not explode. Add the nitroglycerin to the bicarb solution.
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When the nitroglycerin is added to the solution, it sinks to the bottom. It should
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look milky and oily. It will probably cause the bicarb solution to bubble a bit, maybe some
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fizzing. You need to rotate the sep funnel, so that the nitroglycerin rolls around on the
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bottom of the container exposing fresh surfaces to the bicarb solution. Tilt it at about a 45
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degree angle to do this, it's better because then more nitroglycerin gets exposed to the
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bicarb solution. Be gentle with every stirring technique you use. Do not use any rod to stir
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the mixture, You do not want to cause friction. With the nitroglycerin in the position that it
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is in, you can cause seriously large explsions from causing friction. Soft swirling may be
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used. Spend at least a couple of hours on this step. It should be constantly attended,
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stirred, swirrled, etc.
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At the end of the bicarb treatment, the nitroglycerin still looks the same, it still
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looks milky. This is from the water caught in the nitroglycerin, and it should be removed for
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the nitroglycerin to be deemed pure. It will cause problems with detonating the nitro if it is
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not removed.
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To remove the water completely, you need to get some hot water in a container, and
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dissolve as much table salt as you can in it. Shake it as much as you can to dissolve as much
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salt as you possibly can in the hot water. When the water cools down, the clear colored
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saturated salt solution (no crystals of salt floating around) is poured off of the excess salt
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that is sitting on the bottom of the container. Put it in a suitable container.The
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nitroglycerin can now be put seperated in the seperatory funnel just as before. You then put
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the nitroglycerin into contact with the salt solution. There should be about two volumes of
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salt solution added to one volume of nitroglycerin. After sitting together for a few hours, the
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salt will get all the water out of the nitroglycerin, resulting in a Clear product.
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The yield of nitroglycerin is about 50mL. This is not alot of nitroglycerin, but enough to
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have some fun with.
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Well, that's how to do it!
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