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Subject: Re: Booby Traps
From: nreitzel@lonestar.jpl.utsa.edu (Norman L. Reitzel )
Date: Mar 31 1995
Newsgroups: rec.pyrotechnics
In article <3l8svc$10g5@tequesta.gate.net> fheasley@gate.net (DrHeasley)
writes:
>Rodger Pasieczny (rpasiecz@hmc.edu) wrote:
>
>: Hello everyone,
>
>: I'm looking for some ideas on making booby traps. I don't want anything
>: remotely dangerous, just a noise maker type set up. The thing I'm thinking
>: of now involves the judicious use of those Super-Tiger Snap Caps that make a
>: popping sound when you drop them. Any ideas?
>
>: Rodger Pasieczny
>
>How about paper caps and moustraps?
Actually, this is a fun thing and relatively safe, too. The explosive
used is silver acetylide. It's made by taking silver nitrate (we used to
dissolve silver dimes in nitric acid, and at $0.30 each, that's still a
viable option), then neutralize with ammonia until the precipitate first
formed dissolves to a clear (blue if you used a dime) solution.
Then you run in acetylene gas. You get a black sludge out, which is the
silver acetylide. Filter off the solution, then (DON'T let it dry out
while you are working with it) make the traps with some postal twine and
tissue paper thus:
+-------------+
-------------------------------+ |
| +-------+ |
| +-----------------------------------
+-------------+
Wrap the twine in a Z-shape on a square of tissue paper, put a blob of
the silver acetylide sludge on the twine where it's folded, then wrap the
blob up in a square of tissue paper. Glue the paper closed by using a
little bit of glue along one edge.
When these things dry out, pulling on the strings will make a loud BANG!
and toss a cloud of tissue paper shreds all over the place.
They are quite safe if you limit the amount of acetylide you use to a
hundred milligrams or so. Ten milligrams will give quite a surprizing
bang, a hundred is right up there with large hand-thrown salutes.
Of course, as with anything else, you can be an idiot and make a kilogram
of this stuff. If you do, FIRST take out an insurance policy with ME as
beneficiary. I could use the money...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Norman L. Reitzel, Jr. | "When you live beside the graveyard,
nreitzel@lonestar.utsa.edu | you can't cry for every funeral."
Blue Water Ventures, dba. | Russian Proverb
------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: nreitzel@lonestar.utsa.edu (Norman L. Reitzel )
Newsgroups: rec.pyrotechnics
Subject: Re: Silver Acetylide
Date: 23 Aug 1994 09:57:35 GMT
Message-ID: <33ch6f$hl3@ringer.cs.utsa.edu>
In article <draziwCuyGCF.KGK@netcom.com> draziw@netcom.com (Ryan) writes:
>Hoss Topper (hossie@irs.com) wrote:
>: -=> Quoting Billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com to All <=-
>: Not to mention that cupric acetylide is much cheaper to make.
>Well, when I made it it was in a chem class - so I didn't pay for it :),
>and we used a 5% silver nitrate solution. I after I saw your post I took
>a look at what it costs - ouch. Producing Silver Acetylide was
>uncomplicated, and safe (maybe using the 5% solution simplified things).
>How hard is cupric acetylide to make, and how safe (relatively) is it?
>Do you simply use the same method of production, but use copper nitrate (?)
>crystals and put them in water to get a low % solution (and than add
>amonium hyroxide)?
Ryan,
You don't need to use copper nitrate. Any soluble copper II salt will
do, so use plain old cupric sulfate. The method is the same, dissolve,
add NH4OH to dissolve the precipitate, and add acetylene.
Cupric acetylide is not as stable as silver acetylide because the copper
ion is smaller and does not bind the ligand as well, however, it's not
-much- less stable. It's detonation velocity is a bit higher and it's a
bit more brisiant, both because the copper ion (radical?)(atom?) is
lighter, and has a higher velocity during detonation. As far as safety
is concerned, if you are safe with the silver salt, then the copper salt
is not a problem.
I've had great fun with both, though the silver salt was the only one
that I actually had detonate in my hand (ouch). Fortunately, I was only
handling it a few milligrams at a time - on purpose. I had ended up with
a largish lump, and squeezed it to break it up. Stupid, huh? It took me
days to get rid of the black stains on my fingertips.
In point of fact, I used to make the mixed silver/copper acetylides, by
dissolving dimes in nitric acid to get the metal solution.
I'm -PRESUMING- that you know enough not to make a kilo of the stuff, OK?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Norman L. Reitzel, Jr. | "When you live beside the graveyard,
nreitzel@lonestar.utsa.edu | you can't cry for every funeral."
Blue Water Ventures, dba. | Russian Proverb
------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: nreitzel@lonestar.utsa.edu (Norman L. Reitzel )
Newsgroups: rec.pyrotechnics
Subject: Re: Silver Acetylide
Date: 24 Aug 1994 14:45:59 GMT
Message-ID: <33fmf7$526@ringer.cs.utsa.edu>
In article <1994Aug24.033148.12669@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com> billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson) writes:
>beck@dali11.zfe.siemens.de (Andre Beck) writes:
>: |> You don't need to use copper nitrate. Any soluble copper II salt will
>: |> do, so use plain old cupric sulfate. The method is the same, dissolve,
>: |> add NH4OH to dissolve the precipitate, and add acetylene.
>: I remember to have read somewhere that you need a Copper I salt to do
>: this, and any presence of Copper II salts will make the reaction very
>: ineffective. Is it now the other way around, or what ?
>Either will work. Norman's method should produce cupric acetylide, the
>more sensitive of the two. I am assuming that he obtained a amorphous
>black precipitate.
Yep. You end up with cupric acetylide (though CuC2 is unlikely - the
product contains nitrogen for sure, and probably oxygen) as a black sludge.
You filter the sludge, carefully put the mud where you want it, and let
it dry. I used it for years making little pull-string explosives, where
you pub a blob on folded string and wrap up in a bit of paper. You could
use it for those throw-down poppers, except that it is sufficiently
sensitive that having one detonate in a bag just -might- cause the others
to detonate.
The biggest advantage of copper acetylide is that it is so easy to make
you can spend a minute and make 30 mg, just enough to have some fun with.
Under -NO- circumstances would I ever make more than 100mg - it is -way-
too sensitive for that.
If you want to produce cuprous acetylide, you start by dissolving CuSO4
hydrate in water (blue copper sulfate), add NaCl in equimolar amount, and
then add sodium bisulfite solution. You will get an off-white fine
precipitate of cuprous chloride (useful for producing blue fires). You
filter the precipitate and then dissolve it in 20% (3:2) ammonium
hydroxide. Add acetylene, preferably through a -fine- capillary tube,
and you get an orange-red precipitate of cuprous acetylide. The cuprous
chloride precipitate and solution are unstable, and will rapidly oxidize
to cupric salts from the oxygen in the air, so don't make it up ahead.
Commercial production is done under a nitrogen blanket.
The copper (I) salt is a lot less sensitive, and not so useful for
contact explosives. It explodes quite nicely with heat, though. In
spite of what the literature says, I would recomend against making more
than a few tens of milligrams. All of the transition metal acetylides
are prone to detonate from wishful thinking, bad karma, and the phase of
the moon. You simply -must- treat them as compounds that can (and
sometimes do) detonate at any time.
As Bill points out, you should always research these substances before
you go out to make them. Ten milligrams of explosive is pretty safe
because even if it goes off in you hand, the worst result is "Ouch!"
A gram can just ruin your whole day. Don't make more than you need.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Norman L. Reitzel, Jr. | "When you live beside the graveyard,
nreitzel@lonestar.utsa.edu | you can't cry for every funeral."
Blue Water Ventures, dba. | Russian Proverb
------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: nreitzel@lonestar.utsa.edu (Norman L. Reitzel )
Newsgroups: rec.pyrotechnics
Subject: Re: Silver Acetylide
Date: 26 Aug 1994 15:15:13 GMT
Message-ID: <33l0u1$ab9@ringer.cs.utsa.edu>
In article <draziwCv4EDJ.3G8@netcom.com> draziw@netcom.com (Ryan) writes:
>Norman L. Reitzel (nreitzel@lonestar.utsa.edu) wrote:
>: A gram can just ruin your whole day. Don't make more than you need.
>Also, in a previous post I mentioned that I hadn't/wouldn't make more
>than 3 teaspoons - Bill pointed out that 3 teaspoons would be probably be
>pushing it. I'm sure you are right with the cupric mixes (and I have had
>no experience with them yet), but with the Silver Acetylide I have dealt
>with that amount, and it was fine - however that amount was set to dry in
>the same location (not confined either) and then set off. I wouldn't try
>to move or confine the stuff (well, maybe move, but only if it was a
><really> small amount.)
Ryan,
If you are really up for making that much, I highly recommend you go to
the trouble of making silver acetylide, as it's a lot less likely to go
off when you don't want it. It's not expensive of complicated. "Rare
Coin" shops are still selling silver quarters and dimes, and they are
fairly cheap. You should be able to get a silver quarter for under two
dollars - a full ounce of .999 fine silver is only $6 or so. Just
dissolve in warm 50% nitric acid (HOOD, or Outside!), and precipitate the
silver as chloride by adding a saturated brine made from non-iodized
salt. Wash the chloride, and dissolve it in concentrated NH4OH, and add
the acetylene. Presto.
The dissolve/precipitate/dissolve bit is to remove the copper salts
contained in "silver" US coinage. Doing this will make the resulting
acetylide substantially more stable. However, don't ANYBODY get the idea
that I'm claiming it's STABLE, as it is not. It can still explode by
surprize. It deserves some substantial respect.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Norman L. Reitzel, Jr. | "When you live beside the graveyard,
nreitzel@lonestar.utsa.edu | you can't cry for every funeral."
Blue Water Ventures, dba. | Russian Proverb
------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: sfaber@cbnewse.att.com (steven.r.faber)
Newsgroups: rec.pyrotechnics
Subject: Re: Impact Sensitive Explosive
Message-ID: <1991Jan24.212745.27618@cbnewse.att.com>
Date: 24 Jan 91 21:27:45 GMT
In article <1991Jan22.091821.5561@jack.sns.com>, mvp@jack.sns.com (Mike Van Pelt) writes:
> In article <1196@heurikon.heurikon.com> johne@ex.heurikon.com writes:
>
> Silver acetylide. In general, heavy metal acetylides are not good
> things to play with. Silver acetylide, when it drys, is about as
> sensitive as the infamous nitrogen triiodide.
There are a couple forms of silver acetylide that are formed.
one is AgC2 and the other is AgC2.AgNO3. The first is more
powerful and maybe more sensitive and the second is less powerful.
The second form is produced when bubbling the acetylene through
an ammoniacal solution of AgNO3. This was the form I made once.
It is reminisant of AgCl in consistency and color, being a pasty
precipitate that is hard to filter and dry. It tends to form
a dry crust with wet paste underneath.
The silver acetylide thus produced was certainly not as sensitive
as nitrogen triiodide. It explodes more violently than mercury fulminate
when lit with a match but didn't seem too sensitive to impact.
When I tried bubbling C2H2 through a straight AgNO3 solution,
I didn't obtain any precipitate if I remember right, although it
should according to the literature. Maybe it takes more time.
I abandoned this explosive in favor of silver fulminate, which
forms small pure crystals that are easily washed, filtered, and
dried. It is has stable and reproducible properties: it explodes
sharply, is fairly sensitive but managable (in small quantities).
Steve
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