Nitroglycerin

NITROGLYCERINE

Nitroglycerine is one of the most sensitive explosives, if it is not the most sensitive. Although it is possible to make it safely, it is difficult. Many a young anarchist has been killed or seriously injured while trying to make the stuff. When Nobel's factories make it, many people were killed by the all-to-frequent factory explosions. Usually, as soon as it is made, it is converted into a safer substance, such as dynamite.

Like all chemists I must advise you all to take the greatest care and caution when you are doing this. Even if you have made this stuff before.

Nitroglycerin Recipe

by the Jolly Roger

This first article will give you information on making nitroglyerin, the basic ingredient in a lot of explosives such as straight dynamites, and geletin dynamites.

1. Fill a 75-milliliter beaker to the 13 ml. Level with fuming red nitric acid, of 98% pure concentration.
2. Place the beaker in an ice bath and allow to cool below room temp.
3. After it has cooled, add to it three times the amount of fuming sulferic acid (99% h2so4). In other words, add to the now-cool fuming nitric acid 39 ml. Of fuming sulferic acid. When mixing any acids, always do it slowly and carefully to avoid splattering.
4. When the two are mixed, lower thier temp. By adding more ice to the bath, about 10-15 degrees centigrade. (Use a mercury-operated thermometer)
5. When the acid solution has cooled to the desired temperature, it is ready for the glycerin. The glycerin must be added in small amounts using a medicine dropper. (Read this step about 10 times!) Glycerin is added slowly and carefully (i mean careful!) Until the entire surface of the acid it covered with it.
6. This is a dangerous point since the nitration will take place as soon as the glycerin is added. The nitration will produce heat, so the solution must be kept below 30 degrees centigrade! If the solution should go above 30 degrees, immediately dump the solution into the ice bath! This will insure that it does not go off in your face!
7. For the first ten minutes of nitration, the mixture should be gently stirred. In a normal reaction the nitroglycerin will form as a layer on top of the acid solution, while the sulferic acid will absorb the excess water.
8. After the nitration has taken place, and the nitroglycerin has formed on the top of the solution, the entire beaker should be transferred slowly and carefully to another beaker of water. When this is done the nitroglycerin will settle at the bottem so the other acids can be drained away.
9. After removing as much acid as posible without disturbing the nitroglycerin, remove the nitroglycerin with an eyedropper and place it in a bicarbonate of soda (sodium bicarbonate in case you didn't know) solution. The sodium is an alkalai and will nuetralize much of the acid remaining. This process should be repeated as much as necesarry using blue litmus paper to check for the presence of acid. The remaining acid only makes the nitroglycerin more unstable than it already is.
10. Finally! The final step is to remove the nitroglycerin from the bicarbonate. His is done with and eye- dropper, slowly and carefully. The usual test to see if nitration has been successful is to place one drop of the nitroglycerin on metal and ignite it. If it is true nitroglycerin it will burn with a clear blue flame.

** Caution ** Nitro is very sensative to decomposition, heating dropping, or jarring, and may explode if left undisturbed and cool.

Suicidal Recipe

An idiot who attempts to make nitroglycerine would use the following procedure:

 MATERIAL               EQUIPMENT
 ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ               ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
 distilled water        eye-dropper

 table salt             100 ml beaker

 sodium bicarbonate     200-300 ml beakers (2)

 concentrated nitric    ice bath container
 acid (13 ml)           ( a plastic bucket serves well )

 concentrated sulfuric  centigrade thermometer
 acid (39 ml)

 glycerine              blue litmus paper

1. Place 150 ml of distilled water into one of the 200-300 ml beakers.
2. In the other 200-300 ml beaker, place 150 ml of distilled water and about a spoonful of sodium bicarbonate, and stir them until the sodium bicarbonate dissolves. Do not put so much sodium bicarbonate in the water so that some remains undissolved.
3. Create an ice bath by half filling the ice bath container with ice, and adding table salt. This will cause the ice to melt, lowering the overall temperature.
4. Place the 100 ml beaker into the ice bath, and pour the 13 ml of concentrated nitric acid into the 100 ml beaker. Be sure that the beaker will not spill into the ice bath, and that the ice bath will not overflow into the beaker when more materials are added to it. Be sure to have a large enough ice bath container to add more ice. Bring the temperature of the acid down to about 20 degrees centigrade or less.
5. When the nitric acid is as cold as stated above, slowly and carefully add the 39 ml of concentrated sulfuric acid to the nitric acid. Mix the two acids together, and cool the mixed acids to 10 degrees centigrade. It is a good idea to start another ice bath to do this.
6. With the eyedropper, slowly put the glycerine into the mixed acids, one drop at a time. Hold the thermometer along the top of the mixture where the mixed acids and glycerine meet.

DO NOT ALLOW THE TEMPERATURE TO GET ABOVE 30 DEGREES CENTIGRADE; IF THE TEMPERATURE RISES ABOVE THIS TEMPERATURE, WATCH OUT !!

The glycerine will start to nitrate immediately, and the temperature will immediately begin to rise. Add glycerine until there is a thin layer of glycerine on top of the mixed acids. It is always safest to make any explosive in small quantities.

7. Stir the mixed acids and glycerine for the first ten minutes of nitration, adding ice and salt to the ice bath to keep the temperature of the solution in the 100 ml beaker well below 30 degrees centigrade. Usually, the nitroglycerine will form on the top of the mixed acid solution, and the concentrated sulfuric acid will absorb the water produced by the reaction.
8. When the reaction is over, and when the nitroglycerine is well below 30 degrees centigrade, slowly and carefully pour the solution of nitroglycerine and mixed acid into the distilled water in the beaker in step 1. The nitroglycerine should settle to the bottom of the beaker, and the water-acid solution on top can be poured off and disposed of. Drain as much of the acid- water solution as possible without disturbing the nitroglycerine.
9. Carefully remove the nitroglycerine with a clean eye-dropper, and place it into the beaker in step 2. The sodium bicarbonate solution will eliminate much of the acid, which will make the nitroglycerine more stable, and less likely to explode for no reason, which it can do. Test the nitroglycerine with the litmus paper until the litmus stays blue. Repeat this step if necessary, and use new sodium bicarbonate solutions as in step 2.
10. When the nitroglycerine is as acid-free as possible, store it in a clean container in a safe place. The best place to store nitroglycerine is far away from anything living, or from anything of any value. Nitroglycerine can explode for no apparent reason, even if it is stored in a secure cool place.

-= Exodus =-