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To: buwaya
My musings as a teen included making black powder, contact explosive (ammonium nitrogen tri-iodide) and nitroglycerin. I made some good bottle rockets to loft my firecrackers. One of the more fun builds was a large hydrogen balloon carrying a seal bomb with a slow fuse made from cotton string soaked in a solution of potassium nitrate. The balloon approached 1000 ft above ground before the slow fuse ignited the actual fuse of the seal bomb.

A friend had some off the shelf FF black powder. If you roll that inside aluminum foil and toss it into a fire, it functions nicely as a firecracker.

I put the ad hoc musing away as I headed off to college. Plenty of lab work focused on meeting classroom requirements.

Speaking of S&B, I have a couple boxes of their 9mm on the table. It's good quality ammo.

6 posted on 03/14/2025 7:42:51 PM PDT by Myrddin
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To: Myrddin

I did gunpowder too, besides making lots, including experiments in corning it. By far the most dangerous things I did in this line!

Nitroglycerin is ... ambitious!


8 posted on 03/14/2025 8:01:33 PM PDT by buwaya (Strategic imperatives )
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To: Myrddin

I taped a cigarette to large hydrogen balloons for a time fuse.

I feel lucky to be around today. ;)


9 posted on 03/14/2025 9:26:07 PM PDT by MV=PY (The Magic Question: Who's paying for it?)
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