Hello!!!! I am trying to learn some common chemistry, about to start college and well... I live in Arkansas so plenty of back water woods to play with my prettys! The basic idea i want to try is simple, and probably wont explode but meh. I dont want this to be very big, about the size of a 20 oz. soda bottle.
This is my basic idea and my problems.

Ingreds:
Potassium permanganate KMnO4
Glycerin
Glass tube (test tube with a cap!)
Electrical Tape
Metal or PVC pipe with screw on lids.
Metal ball bearing (MUST FIT IN TEST TUBE!)

Well first off for my idea if its not obvious. I want to take the potassium perm. and place it into the glass tube along with the metal ball bearing to break the glass when thrown. Then place your screw on cap on one end of your pipe. Fill the pipe almost full with glycerin , put the sealed test tube into the pipe then seal tightly and tape it up really good. (The tape probably isnt needed, but from most of my previous little buddys, tape is what made it work >.> That and packing, but meh.)
Basically, what i want it to do, is when i throw this lil baby i am expecting the ball bearing to break the test tube, mixing the ingreds thus = compressed fire and boom.

Second is my ingred issues, if this will even work. Potassium Perm. is very easy to find, i got mine at wal-mart. The thing is though, its not crystals. Its a deep purple dye like liquid for fish tanks, and i really cant afford to buy it online, its very expensive and shipping is crazy! Is there any way to get the crystals out of this liquid? Like I said, im no chem major and all i could come up with was 2 options, neither worked. I tried the ocean method first. Place it in a plastic topless container, tied a coffee filter over the top, and let the sun evaporate all liquids away leaving the salt mixture i need. (FAIL) Second was boiling the liquid in a shitty old pan over a grill. (Also FAIL). If anyone has any methods that work please let me know!

Third is my safety issues. I love my hobby, but i dont want to be left w/o my left hand OR my house. I know when you combine this mixture its more flame then explosive, but its also liquid. I dont want to blow up a pipe filled with exlosive liquide thats going to cover an entire forest with flaming glycerin, that may be bad >.> But anyways this is my first post, so not that great but meh. I believe this may work, but I am not trying untill i get the KMnO4 crystals. So lemme know what yah think, and if someone already posted this sorry, didnt see the subject.

Ehh, it made me re-login when i posted the topic and double posted. Sorry, and feel free to delete one of them >.>

The KMnO4 you have is in a solution of water and buffers. Water is like an energy sinkhole, don't expect to get a decent reaction when it's in solu.

It's possible this could work, but it's a waste of chems. KMnO4 has far more useful things to be done with it (drugs explosives etc).

Here are the main problems:

1. Your ignitor is unreliable. You don't know if it actually broke the tube or not, and if you leave a UXO around 9unexploded ordnace) then you run a very real risk of burning down those back water woods - OR - You think it's a dud and try to pick it up to open and it goes off in your face. I've seen the same thing happen many times.

2. Your reaction is unreliable. Glycerine doesn't mix well, it's very viscose and will tend to cling a few crystals to the surface and smoulder gently. You'd be better off with ethylene glycol (antifreeze) or a thinner solution of the two.

3. Your reactants are dodgy. Both glycerine and KMnO4 are extremely hygroscopic - That is, they absorb moisture from the air making them both ineffectual.


On the whole, this is a waste of good chemicals that will produce a minor bang and burn at best. Avoid.

Thanks man, your post seem to be very helpfull. and lol your right about the ooh its a dud, lets take it apart and see what went wrong > Boom. The idea poped into my head when i was reading chem reactions, so gave it a tick. I think i am going to stick to smaller things anyways, read some fertilizer bomb post and asked a question about it, so meh gonna see how that works. I am more of a gunpowder and easily buyable items type of guy. + I work at Fed-Ex and well if you get shipments of really hard to get stuff like some of these things, the FBI would probably show up at my work haha.

I read alot of theese post also BTW, and like i said, some of these elements are super hard to get in the USA so i dont see why so many americans say they are so easy to attain. I searched links and google and all i see that i can buy from local stores like Home Depot, Petco, Lowes, Wal-Mart etc, are pretty much Smoke Bombs, match, gasoline etc. Any links to any post to something that anyone thinks i can easily purchase at theese stores would be great! Once again though I am just a hobbyest searching new ways to get hurt and learn, so drop me a message anytime on MSN or on here
XGP0001@hotmail.com

Here is some very basic chemistry, but it can make a big bang if you know how to pull it off. Hydrochloric acid and Aluminium creates Hydrogen... Everyone knows about the Hindenburg. And Hydrochloric acid and NaCIO also known as bleach creates the gas chlorine.

Sodium Carbon MonoIodide Oxide? Ex-squeeze me?

FUCK OFF WITH YOUR STUPID FUCKING PRESSURE BOMBS UNTIL YOU KNOW HOW TO WRITE HYPOCHLORITE.

hahahahahahahahahahaha.

Hmmm... yes ghost...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleach

pretty sure ghost knows his shit, and pretty sure wikipedia is not a very reliable source

Well lets see. Hindenburg.. Wasnt that a massive german airship that exploded? IDK how small it is nothx lol. Gas explosions are way outta my league.