While I’m being a drama queen, here’s something else via My Mate Dave:
http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2010/05/14/how_not_to_do_it_acetylene_cylinders.php
A note for Pedant's Corner: Not actually gas cylinders acetylene; they contain some sort of porous material and are filled with acetone that has acetylene dissolved in it. This is because acetylene can't be stored as a pressurised gas above about 2 bar or it explodes. Needless to say, when it goes wrong the acetone isn't going to make the day more fun.
This combination of two already pretty hazardous things reminds me of Astrolite, which is neither a lightweight synthetic pitch or a low calorie lubricant, but an explosive. Now, ammonium nitrate and fuel oil is a very common mining explosive. Ammonium nitrate is produced in huge quantities for fertilizer, and so is really cheap, and pretty safe. Mix it with diesel and you can pore it straight into drilled holes. Less bang than dynamite but it's virtually free and you can always just use more. However someone looked at this and thought; "Fuel oil, hmm. What about rocket fuel?" And so Astrolite, ammonium nitrate dissolved in hydrazine, came about. This of course adds extreme toxicity to the hazard posed by your explosives and makes it extremely powerful. Remarkably, this stuff came out in the '60s and has only just gone away...
7 comments:
SOunds like the sort of thing John Clarke and co would have played with for rocket fuel. Any mention of it in Ignition!?
Ah hydrazine... a long while ago I worked on a synthesis using it, which required written authorisation from several senior people, all of whom meticulously worded their contributions so that in the event of any conceivable accident their arses would be covered
There is an old joke about it being possible to estmate the number of years someone has spent investigating the chemistry of hydrazine by counting their fingers.
It's carcinogenic too. And smelly. Ho de friggin ho.
Isn't hydrazine one of the things that goes into the "Lynx" range of male deodorants?
'Isn't hydrazine one of the things that goes into the "Lynx" range of male deodorants?'
No, they make you irresistible to women, which means they smell of money.
Congratulations! You actually do know of a liquid explosive other than nitrogycerine. It never ceases to amaze me at airports at how ignorant the security staff are about liquid explosives and how corrosive or toxic or unstable they or their components are. Anyone with a reasonable grasp of chemistry would never try to smuggle a real liquid explosive or liquid components of a liquid explosive onto an aircraft. Just walking about with them on your person is incredibly dangerous to you, You would be a premature sicide bomber.
...which is why letting an acetylene bottle fall over is very bad news -- the porous material inside the bottle may break, 2 bar is easily exceeded (oops) and it starts to burn inside the bottle. Then again, letting an oxygen bottle fall over and shearing off the top means you have a very effective torpedo that happily munches through any number of brick wall until it's empty.
Trust in any deity you like(or not) but always chain your gas tanks to the wall.
Ammonium nitrate dissolved in Hydrazine?
omg.
As a chemist I really don't like to think about that.
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