On Sat, 2012-08-25 at 09:59 -0400, Kent A. Reed wrote: > On 8/25/2012 4:29 AM, Gene Heskett wrote: > > That of course was back in a different day and time, I actually bought it > > off the display shelf of the main downtown Rapid City drug store. I had to > > sign the dangerous chemicals waver book for both it and the hydrochloric > > CP, but it was on the shelf! CVS & Rite Aid will probably call the DHS if > > you even ask about either today. > > When I was a mere lad, my local drug store was chock-a-block with useful > chemical elements and compounds. Besides doing the usual chemistry > experiments, by the time I entered high school I had made quantities of > various substances known to expand rapidly when ignited, all in the name > of amateur rocketry. From gun powder to a version of Thiokol rubber, > pretty much you name it and I made it. Almost every ingredient was > purchased off their shelves. Some of their stock items made sense to me, > others were inexplicable. I never did ask why a pharmacy would need to > carry pound containers of granulated zinc. It's no wonder they're called > "chemist shops" in many parts of the world.
Powdered zinc not the granulated mixed with sulfur makes a good rocket fuel. You partially fill sections of the tube and when it goes it gets suspended and you get kind of a dust explosion. > > I confess I went straight to the local scientific supply store to buy > some of my reagent-grade chemicals, notably acids, and labware. No > questions were ever asked. I guess the counter clerks figured if I knew > how to specify what I wanted I must know what I was doing, even though I > rode up on a bicycle! There's a current cartoon series* about two kids > named Phineas and Ferb doing incredible engineering feats, in which > Phineas is often asked by an adult "say, aren't you a little young to be > doing this?" to which Phineas replies "why, yes, yes I am." That would > have been my response too. My senior science project was the synthesis of sulfanilamide from benzene. Good experience: nitrate the benzene ... reduce to analine ... use chlorosulfonic acid to sulfonation the analine (this I bought) ... hydrolyse the actamide group to get sulfanilamide. My intermediates were the same as the following but some of methods for getting there were not. <chem.wisc.edu/deptfiles/genchem/.../A00.Sulfanilamideexptpdf.pdf> > My enthusiasm for home rocketry dampened a bit when a friend blew off > various portions of his hands and face in an ill-considered attempt to > brew a fuel which was well known to be unstable. This stuff deserves > respect. Reminds me of my pilot-dad's remark that there are old pilots > and there are bold pilots but there are no old, bold pilots. Substitute > chemist for pilot and I think it still holds true. Someplace out there ... is a website labeled something like, "things I wouldn't try to make in the lab". Fascinating list of unstable compounds compiled from the literature. > > Not just DHS would come a-knocking these days, what with crack labs > blowing up with some regularity. (maybe there is some justice in this world). > > And the fertilizer stores are still open for business. Ah, yes but try to but 34-0-0 ... dry ammonium nitrate .. gone. You can buy uran-32 which is a solution of ammonium nitrate and urea and CAN-17 which is calcium ammonium nitrate also a liquid. > > Regards, > Kent > > *Oh the things you learn when you take care of grandkids! > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Live Security Virtual Conference > Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and > threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions > will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware > threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ > _______________________________________________ > Emc-users mailing list > Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Live Security Virtual Conference Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
