Potassium Nitrate?
- Thread starter Greg S
- Start date
Just to clarify - potassium nitrate is perfectly safe, in fact it has been used in foods for centuries, and is still on the market today. It has also had some medicinal uses. There is nothing to suggest that potassium nitrate is carcinogenic. Mercury however, is harmful.
Sly Old Fox
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- In lalaland, that is Ottawa.
We used to hear that saltpeter was administered by certain institutions to curb the passions of their interns. Is this what you mean?
Sorry, couldn't resist.I believe you're right. I had already forgotten that!
M12shooter
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- East St. Paul, mb
Potassium Nitrate...aka... salt peter makes a good mineral bath. Used to be sold at the drug store...likely still is. When we were kids we would buy it and find coal and sulpher on the rail road tracks. Make our own crude black powder for kicks. That was back in the 60's when kids were cool. Today mine are mostly preoccupied with looking at their phones.
I used to use murcury to clean my pistol barrels as our cast bullets were soft and leaded badly. Plug the barrel with a cork and fill it with the heavy metal. Next morning the barel would be cleaner that when it was new. Some still use this process and it can be done safely if precautions are taken.
I used to use murcury to clean my pistol barrels as our cast bullets were soft and leaded badly. Plug the barrel with a cork and fill it with the heavy metal. Next morning the barel would be cleaner that when it was new. Some still use this process and it can be done safely if precautions are taken.
- Location
- The Conservative part of Ontario
When we were kids we used to mix potassium nitrate 50/50 with sugar, makes a dense white smoke cloud with it's own peculiar smell.
We set one off in his back yard that filled a quart coke bottle. The smoke drifted over to the Canadian tire parking lot. Couldn't see your hand in front of your face for a few minutes.
Now remember this was at least 40 years ago.
Two kids vanished (us). We got a major lecture over that one from his old man, I would have had a sore butt if my old man found out.
We set one off in his back yard that filled a quart coke bottle. The smoke drifted over to the Canadian tire parking lot. Couldn't see your hand in front of your face for a few minutes.
Now remember this was at least 40 years ago.
Two kids vanished (us). We got a major lecture over that one from his old man, I would have had a sore butt if my old man found out.
a friend of mine made black powder and flash bombs for a school project. his fascination with bombs started when he asked for some firecrackers for his birthday. his uncle gave him a pound of black powder instead! i remember taking a school trip to his house where he demonstrated some of these homemade flash bombs, and his dad showed us what an underwater blast will do. he detonated about 2cubic cms of bp inside a full 40 gallon drum. the whole thing jumped about 3 feet in the air!
he quit making explosions after another buddy detonated one of them in my friends face, when he was setting it up...
he quit making explosions after another buddy detonated one of them in my friends face, when he was setting it up...
I call BS on that statement...
I am a chemist and I will legally make any powder/mixture I choose. There are some controlled compounds but they are not typically used in mixtures. Mixtures are "deflagrants" which are only illegal when confined or contained in such a manner that they can cause an explosion. To be convicted, there must be proven intent. Intent requires the presence of an initiator (fuse). Also, there are some provisions for storage wrt quantity. The "storage magazine" must be a certain distance from a duelling etc...
