Preparation of Contact Explosives This is part of a series of files on pyrotechnics and explosives. It's serious stuff, and can be really dangerous if you don't treat it seriously. For you kids out there who watch too many cartoons, remember that if a part of your body gets blown away in the REAL world, it STAYS blown away. If you can't treat this stuff with respect, don't screw around with it. Each file will start with a set of safety rules. Don't skip over them. Read 'em and MEMORIZE 'em!! At the beginning, there will be a set of general rules that always apply. Then there will be some things that you HAVE TO KNOW about the materials you will be using and making this time. Read it thoroughly before starting anything. Pyrotechnic preparations and explosives are, by their very nature, unstable, and subject to ignition by explosion or heat, shock, or friction. A clear understanding of their dangerous properties and due care in the handling of ingredients or finished products is necessary if accidents are to be avoided. Always observe all possible precautions, particularly the following: 1. Mix only small batches at one time. This means a few grams, or at most, an ounce or so. Don't go for big mixes -- they only make for bigger accidents. The power of an explosive cubes itself with every ounce. (9 Ounces is 729 times as powerful as one ounce.) 2. When weighing chemicals, use a clean piece of paper on the scale pan for each item. Then discard the used paper into a bucket of water before weighing the next ingredient. 3. Be a safe worker. Dispose of any chemicals spilled on the workbench or equipment between weighings. Don't keep open containers of chemicals on your table, since accidental spillage or mixing may occur. When finished with a container, close it, and replace it on the storage shelf. Use only clean equipment. 4. Where chemicals are to be ground, grind them separately, NEVER TOGETHER. Thoroughly wash and clean equipment before grinding another ingredient. 5. Mixing of batches should be done outdoors, away from flammable structures, such as buildings, barns, garages, etc. Mixes should also be made in NON METALLIC containers to avoid sparks. Glass also should not be used since it will shatter in case of an accident. Handy small containers can be made by cutting off the top of a plastic bottle three or four inches from the bottom. Some mixes may most conveniently be made by placing the ingredients in a plastic bottle and rolling around until the mixture is uniform. In all cases, point the open end of the container away from yourself. Never hold your body or face over the container. Any stirring should be done with a wooden paddle or stick to avoid sparks or static. Powdered or ground materials may also be mixed by placing them on a large sheet of paper on a flat surface and then rolling them across the sheet by lifting the sides and corners one at a time. 6. Never ram or tamp mixes into paper or cardboard tubes. Pour the material in and gently tap or shake the tube to settle the contents down. 7. Store ingredients and finished mixes where they will not be a fire hazard away from heat and flame. Finished preparations may be stored in plastic bottles which will not shatter in case of an accident. Since many of the ingredients and mixes are poisonous, they should be stored out of reach of children or pets, preferably locked away. 8. Be sure threads of screw top containers and caps are thoroughly cleaned. This applies also to containers with stoppers of rubber or cork and to all other types of closures. Traces of mixture caught between the container and closure may be ignited by the friction of opening or closing the container. Throughout any procedure, WORK WITH CLEAN CONDITIONS. 9. ALWAYS WEAR A FACE SHIELD OR AT LEAST SHATTERPROOF SAFETY GLASSES. Any careful worker does when handling dangerous materials. Be sure lenses and frames are not flammable. 10. Always wear a dust respirator when handling chemicals in dust form. These small particles gather in your lungs and stay there. They may cause serious illnesses later on in life. 11. Always wear gloves when working with chemicals. 12. Always wear a waterproof lab apron. 13. If you must work indoors, have a good ventilation system. 14. Never smoke anywhere near where you are working. 15. Make sure there are NO open flames present, and NO MOTORS (they produce sparks inside.) No hot water heaters, furnaces, or pilot lights in stoves!! Sparks have been known to very readily explode dust floating in the air. 16. ALWAYS work with someone. Two heads are better than one. 17. Have a source of water READILY available. (Fire extinguisher, hose, etc.) 18. Never, under any circumstances, use any metal to load chemicals or put chemicals in. Fireworks with metal casings are worse to handle than a live hand grenade. Never use any metal container or can. This includes the very dangerous CO2 cartridges. Many people have been KILLED because of flying fragments from metal casings. Again, please do not use metal in any circumstance. 19. Always be thoroughly familiar with the chemicals you are using. Some information will be included in each file, but look for whatever extra information you can. Materials that were once thought to be safe can later be found out to be dangerous stuff. 20. Wash your hands and face thoroughly after using chemicals. Don't forget to wash your EARS AND YOUR NOSE. 21. If any device you've built fails to work, leave it alone. After a half hour or so, you may try to bury it, but never try to unload or reuse any dud. 22. If dust particles start to form in the air, stop what you are doing and leave until it settles. 23. Read the entire file before trying to do anything. 24. NEVER strike any mixture containing Chlorates, Nitrates, Perchlorates, Permanganates, Bichromates, or powdered metals don't drop them, or even handle them roughly. These rules may all look like a lot of silly nonsense, but let's look at one example. When the movie "The Wizard of OZ" was made, the actress who played the good witch was severely burned when one of the exploding special effects got out of hand. The actress who played the bad witch got really messed up by the green coloring used on her face, and the original actor who played the Tin Man got his lungs destroyed by the aluminum dust used to color his face. The actor we know of as the tin man was actually a replacement. The point is, these chemicals were being used under the direction of people a lot more knowlegable of chemicals than you are, and terrible accidents still happened. Don't take this stuff lightly. The contact explosives we will be describing use only a few chemicals. Some do need extra caution to keep from causing trouble. Iodine Crystals Though most people don't realize it, Iodine is not a brown liquid, but a steel-grey solid. The tincture of iodine you buy at the drugstore actually contains just a tiny bit of iodine dissolved in a jarful of inexpensive alcohol, and resold at a huge mark up. We'll be using iodine in the crystalline form. On contact with your skin, it will produce a dark stain that won't wash off with soap and water. We'll talk about removing these stains later. If it gets hot, it vaporizes into a purple cloud, that smells like the chlorine in a swimming pool. This cloud is dangerous to inhale, since it will condense in your lungs, and is corrosive. Since we won't need to heat this stuff, it is not a problem, but you should make sure that you don't let any iodine crystals spill onto a hot surface. If you don't touch it and keep it away from your face, you shouldn't have any troubles. Ammonium Hydroxide This is just good old household ammonia. Be sure to get the clear kind. The sudsy stuff won't be too useful. It is made from ammonia gas dissolved in water, and every time you open the bottle, it loses some of its strength, so be sure to use fresh stuff. We need it to be as strong as possible. Some of the formulas given here use lab grade concentrated ammonium hydroxide. It is much stronger than the supermarket kind, and is very unkind to skin or especially the eyes. It is a good idea to wear eye protection with even the supermarket grade. Though we don't usually worry about this when using household ammonia for cleaning, we usually dilute it for that. Here we'll be using it straight out of the bottle, and it is much more corrosive in that form. Never use this material if you don't have real good ventilation, as the ammonia vapors can be overpowering. Potassium Iodide This is a reasonably safe chemical. You get Potassium ions in some of the fruit you eat, and Iodide ions (usually as Sodium Iodide) are added to the table salt you buy at the store. So, while you don't directly eat this chemical, you do eat the components that make it up. Don't be scared of this stuff. Sodium Thiosulfate Otherwise known as photographic hypo. When dissolved in water, this will remove the iodine stains left by touching iodine crystals, and exploding contact explosive. Not particularly nasty stuff, but make sure to wash it off after cleaning yourself with it. General Information This is a powerful and highly sensitive explosive. A dust sized particle will make a sharp crack or popping sound. A piece the size of a pencil lead will produce an explosion as loud as any of the largest firecrackers or cherry bombs. It cannot be exploded by any means when wet, and therefore can be handled and applied with safety. When dry, it will explode with the touch of a feather, or a breath of air. The strength of the ammonia water you use will have a direct effect on the strength of the final product. If you use supermarket ammonia, the explosive will work, but not as spectacularly as if you use a 15% or higher (10 to 15 molar) solution. The stronger it is, the better. You'll also need filter paper, and a funnel. A properly folded coffee filter will do nicely if you don't have the filter paper. If you're not sure how to fold filter paper, check an elementary chemistry textbook. Methods of Preparation 1.) Granular Explosive. This is the easiest kind, and the only kind that will work reasonably well with supermarket ammonia. Crush enough iodine crystals to make a pile of powder equal to the volume of a pencil eraser. Do not grind into a fine powder. Put about 4 ounces or 1/2 measuring cup of strong ammonia water into a small container with the iodine, and seal it for about 5 to 10 minutes, shaking frequently. While the mixture is reacting, get your filter paper ready. While it is best to consult a book that shows how to do this, you take the circle of filter paper, fold it in half, fold it again at right angles to the first fold, and then open it to form a cone. Open or close it as needed to make it conform to the angle of the funnel, and moisten it a little to make it stick in place. Place the funnel over a container that will catch the waste liquid. Let the mixture settle long enough for the sediment to settle, and pour off as much of the clear liquid as possible before filtering the sediment. Pour the remaining liquid and sediment into the filter. The sediment (and the filter paper covered with it!!!) is your explosive. The small amount you have made will go a lot farther than you realize. Particularly if you used good strong ammonia. Place the explosive in an airtight leakproof pill bottle. As this explosive is unstable by nature, fresh amounts give better results than stale ones that have been sitting around for a day or so. Best results are obtaine