>In a message dated 9/23/98 11:27:45 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
>starbuck@EMPIRENET.COM writes:
>
><<
> >
> >On that note, does anyone know how to make flash powder (quick burning
> >gunpowder, like the kind in shells, etc.), i.e. NOT salt petre & sugar
type
> >of thing which is hot and fun, but not fast like flash powder.
> >
> >Craig
>  >>
>I can tell you how to make "Flash Paper" or nitro cellulose.  It was
invented


<<<snip>>>>

>dry out for 30 minutes or so.
>This stuff will look like a napkin but when set alight it dissapears in a
>flash with little or no smoke and no ash.
>
>Dave Not responsible for anything done with this Duley
>

Arrgghhh....

This is an excellent description on how to harm yourself!!!!!

Sure it is a really easy way of making nitrocellulose, but the safety
measures mentioned (were there any?) will easily get you into trouble.

I did this, and a lot of more things with acids, powder, etc. And it really
is dangerous stuff.

When I was about 14 or 15, a friend of mine was mixing the acids to make
nitroglicerin, without any cooling, and using only his hands. The test tube
he was using got real hot and projected the mixture to the ceiling. I was
outside, washing out a previous batch of nitroglicerin, and he came running
and screaming that he got acid on his clothes. He stripped fast to his
briefs and a minute or so later we checked the clothes and the ceiling.
There were holes everywhere on the clothes and a large dark spot on the
ceiling. Fortunately he was not harmed, just really scared. But this is only
an example of what can happen when mixing acids carelessly.

Recently I was working at a semiconductor plant, as a failure analysis
engineer, and we used several acids (nitric, sulfuric, fluoridric, etc.) to
open packages on ICs. Once, one of the technicias was going to open a small
magnetic sensor, using boiling sulfuric acid, but he forgot to turn on the
fumes extracting hood, and after about 2 minutes after the acid started to
boil, the whole room was filled with acid vapor. You would not want to know
what it feels like, it burns your throat and chest as hell, and we only had
one or two breaths worth of acid. The whole building had to be evacuated,
and I (using a special gas mask) was to clear the mess. Obviously I was the
one to blame, because I was in charge. And fortunately no one was hurt (just
a sore throat).

What I really mean, is that nobody without help or sufficient knowledge
should play with stuff this dangerous. Start with something simpler like the
heads of matches wraped in foil to make tiny rockets, and then grow from
there.

Calvin
(just another pyromaniac)