Acetone vs. Xylene

[Siegmund]

Is there a reason to use one rather than the other, as a solvent for comps using parlon as both binder and chlorine donor? I'm thinking, for instance, of the red rubber star comp Skylighter featured this past spring.

 

Both are heavier than air and flammable, so the obvious safety precautions seem to apply to them equally.

 

(I ask because I happen to have come into some cheap surplus xylene, and would have to go out and buy acetone - do I need to?)

[TSO]

I'd personally go with acetone. It's cheap and less toxic then xylene. Both should be used with appropriate ventilation to avoid flash ignition issues.

[jwitt]

And an appropriate respirator. Fumes...yuck. Do not underestimate the fumes. Edited August 18, 2010 by jwitt

[Adrenaline]

There is also a difference between their solubility properties. Xylene is a non polar solvent, because the difference of the electronegativity of C and H is very low, whereas acetone is a more polar solvent. Thats becaus of its oxygen atom which has, compared to a carbon atom, a high electronegativity. So the Xylene will solve lipophilic substances and the acetone will solve hydrophilic substances. However Acetone is not that polar, so it still will solve lipophilic substances.

 

This leads to a difference in usage of xylene and acetone not only in chemistry but also in pyrotechnics, cause if you want to press a star wit e.g dextrine as a binder, you should use acetone/water and not xylol, cause dextrine is rather polar than unpolar.

 

I don´t know the polarity of parlon, but it contains loads of chlorine atoms, which are very electronegative, so I think acetone might be the better solvent.

 

 

 

[Potassiumchlorate]

*BUMP*

 

I tried to make parlon stars with xylene the other day. Quite a disappointment. It seemed like the solvent would never evaporate.