Chemistry

I wish I’d grabbed a photo when I saw this but I thought it might be bad so I threw it away. Hindsight maybe that also wasn’t the best course of action but here’s my story.

Since there are a few ways to make flash cotton. I’ll give the basic ingredients I used but not the instructions. I used ammonia nitrate, sulphuric acid, and 100% cotton balls. I have nitric acid but it’s a pain in the ass to get, and expensive. So, I didn’t want to use it.

Anyway, I made this flash cotton like 3 years ago. I stuffed it all into a glass jar with a metal lid. I mean let’s face it. After you set a couple of pieces on fire, and show your 2 friends. What else can you do with it?

So, I stuffed it all into a glass jar with a metal lid, and forgot about it. Occasionally I’d see it in the kitchen drawer when I was looking for something and think yep there’s that flash cotton I made. I should burn it sometime.

Fast forward to the other day roughly 3 years from when I made it. I was looking for catfish skinning pliers when I found the jar. Only now that metal lid was half dissolved. The cotton was also gone. In its place was a yellow sludge that was growing little yellow crystals.

My initial thought was “hmmmmmmm that don’t look so good. Into the trash with you”. But now I’m curious what the hell happened? Also, maybe the trash wasn’t the best place for that?

I guess I’m just looking for insight.

Hello Chemists. I was wondering what the half-lives are for certain tear gas molecules used in tear gas used by the police. My house was tear gas due to an incident with a neighbor 5 days ago and now it still lingers.

They said that they used CN, OC and CS gas.

CN = (Orthochlorobenzalmalononitrile) OC = (Oleoresin Capsicum) CN = (Chloroacetophenone)

Thanks a lot for your help. Also, if you could note special properties of these molecules, about toxicity, etc, please let me know too :-)

Thank you!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/3795687

"Many of these terms were in common use into the 20th century."

I hear many of these terms in common usage today, like potash, tartar, spirits, soda/soda ash, lime, soda lime, slacked lime, quicklime, lye, alkali, caustic soda, caustic potash, caustic alkali, quicksilver, chalk, cinnabar, fools gold, fulminating silver, fulminating gold, gypsum, vitriol has taken on a less specific meaning, aqua regia, turpentines, lead sugar, sulfur.

I think the reason that so many of these terms are retained is that the substances they refer to have been known for thousands of years in some cases.

brimstone is a much cooler name for sulfur that should be brought back. aqua vitae is a nice name for ethanol. the names of metals haven't changed.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/3732588

A nice trip up and down the scale of things. I especially like the ones from 10^1 to 10^14, inhumane numbers attempting to be brought to a human scale.

Source: CRC Standard Mathematical Tables and Formulas (Zwillinger, Daniel) (Z-Library)