What did you learn today?

GeneT45 said:
I have always used Sulfuric Acid (Battery Acid), which should also be diluted, but I don't think you'd get that reaction with it even in the 'full strength' battery acid.

GsT
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Going back to the original YouTube video, it showed a lot of what I had forgotten. The acid dilution should have been 6 ounces of acid for a half gallon of water. Big Oops.
Think of it like this. If you drink coffee with one spoon of sugar and actually used 11 spoonfuls instead.
 
Other BIG thing to remember, strong acid goes in the water, not the other way around. Water into acid can create serious frothing and boiling, throwing acid around. The other way around, acid into water, is a significantly calmer and safer event... Just like machining, order of operations matters a lot!
 
WobblyHand said:
Other BIG thing to remember, strong acid goes in the water, not the other way around. Water into acid can create serious frothing and boiling, throwing acid around. The other way around, acid into water, is a significantly calmer and safer event... Just like machining, order of operations matters a lot!
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+1. I always remember the mnemonic "AAA - Always Add Acid". Easy to get confused if you're as scatterbrained as I can be...

GsT
 
That's right, always add nitric to glycerine. Actually, it won't work well without a few drops of sulfuric to catalyze the substitution reaction, and it is best done in an ice bath. Alfred Nobel patented a safer reaction chamber that dumps bottom out of the crucible to jettison the batch over an ice bath if the reaction runs away. This is why I prefer toluene for my anarchist's block parties, so much more stable. Of course, Esbit (hexamine) is the real crowd pleaser, and a gentler reaction.
 
Eddyde said:
Reminds me of the time my ex wife and I harvested the hot peppers from our garden. Hours later, we were in bed “getting busy” when suddenly she started screaming “the peppers, the peppers” I had to hold her upside down in the shower for about a half hour till it stopped.
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OMG.....That takes the cake!!!!!! I'm so sorry for her, but cannot stop laughing!
 
pontiac428 said:
That's right, always add nitric to glycerine. Actually, it won't work well without a few drops of sulfuric to catalyze the substitution reaction, and it is best done in an ice bath. Alfred Nobel patented a safer reaction chamber that dumps bottom out of the crucible to jettison the batch over an ice bath if the reaction runs away. This is why I prefer toluene for my anarchist's block parties, so much more stable. Of course, Esbit (hexamine) is the real crowd pleaser, and a gentler reaction.
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Where is the party?
 
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