"Peter L. Peres" wrote:
--------
> Assuming you are in the chemical business HNO3 15% should work fine. Bu=
t
> watch the temperature. It's a long long time since I used this etchant =
(I
> was still in school then).
---------

and using that one may also get you some unwanted attention.  that's
nitric acid.  order that and sulfuric acid regularly and little else and
someone will want to talk to you.  15% is weaker than what's usually
needed for explosives, but acids can be distilled to higher
concentrations.  it also has to be handled carefully.  if spilled on
wood floors or other organic materials it can create a delayed fire
hazard, though if thoroughly rinsed immediately and neutralized it's
fine.  best to only use it over concrete.  definitely avoid the vapors.=20
on the other hand, when it's spent you should have copper nitrate which
might be useful for amateur pyrotechnics (just don't get it on your
shoes before going to the airport).  by the same token, if you have some
platinum you can make nitric acid from ammonia by oxidizing it, the
platinum is the catalyst.  see, if you want to stop bomb makers now you
also have to restrict ammonia, though traditionally people have just
used other oxidizers.

--=20
Philip Stortz--"In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I
didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.=20
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a
Jew.=20
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I
wasn't a trade unionist.=20
Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a
Protestant.=20
Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up."
-- Martin Niem=F6ller, 1892-1984 (German Lutheran Pastor), on the Nazi
Holocaust, Congressional Record 14th October 1968 p31636.

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