Swede Posted July 13, 2009 Posted July 13, 2009 Strontium Nitrate: I've HEARD that decently pure strontium nitrate is not as hygroscopic as people think. Apparently, it is the impurities (sodium nitrate? That would be a s**t impurity to have) that cause problems. I've got some from Hobby Chemical Supply, great people. It's humid as hell today, I'll set some out and weigh it with a milligram scale. The test is complete. The strontium nitrate (sugar crystal sized) as added to a muffin cup, weighed, and exposed to Texas humidity for 3 days. The weight increase was zero. 2.417 grams to start, 2.417 grams at the end. Conclusion: Unless this salt is already heavily water-loaded, it is NOT hygroscopic, at all. I'll bake it and see if there are any volatiles present. But so far, it appears reasonably pure strontium nitrate does not absorb water - it is some other sort of contaminant that does so.
FrankRizzo Posted July 14, 2009 Posted July 14, 2009 Looks like Sciencemadness is under some sort of DDOS attack.
firetech Posted July 15, 2009 Posted July 15, 2009 Had to put my dog down today...but he's happier where he is now.
TheSidewinder Posted July 15, 2009 Posted July 15, 2009 Very sorry to hear that Firetech. It's often the last act of love we give to our furry friends, and that makes it even harder..... you have my sympathies.
Miech Posted July 16, 2009 Posted July 16, 2009 I shot some awesome shells and rockets yesterday, including my first 1" whistle and a really nice color changing 4" with pistil. Too bad I forgot my camera...
deadman Posted July 16, 2009 Posted July 16, 2009 I was deleting old messages off my cell and I accidently got rid of a few "revealing" pictures I had to work pretty to get out of some hot chicks.
Seymour Posted August 2, 2009 Posted August 2, 2009 An overseas pyro is visiting me, and I've been making up a few shells and mines for tomorrow when we meet up. On Thursday I was hit by influenza. I'll still get most of my planned stuff made, but I've been less productive than I'd like, so I've had to sacrifice a few layers of pasting. I expected to get it at some point, but the timing is terrible.
Ventsi Posted August 2, 2009 Posted August 2, 2009 (edited) God I feel awful. A friend of mine asked me to make him some single shot signal flares. I made them last week and just got around to shooting them last night. I made two, one 5/8" and one 3/8, comp was KNO3SAl. BOTH of them didn't light even with a 3step prime that I myself saw burn off. They were pressed in tubes like pillbox stars but without the fuse in them, there's the mistake I guess. Anyway ,to the bad part. We shot the first one out of a stubby piece of steel pipe, then I loaded the otherone into my disassembled make shift musket [fun thing really]. I lit the Silver FF fuse from CannonFuse and it went out an inch before the charge, after much arguing I got a two-three foot pipe and put a roll of paper at the end of it. The "musket" was not secured into the ground, just leaned on a rack pointing up. As I was lighting the device it tipped over, I quickly got back and a second later, after I had retreated the flame from the fuse it miraculously lit. The stargun shot the metal tube at my friends which were a good 60 feet back and nearly hit one of their feet, it then hit a bench and stopped. No one was hurt Stupid of me, lesson learned. I was going to post this in the Worst mistake Thread but I couldn't find it.Feel free to flame. Edited August 2, 2009 by Ventsi
Miech Posted August 3, 2009 Posted August 3, 2009 (edited) http://rnp782.er.usgs.gov/atlas2/articles/mapping/IMAGES/avhrr-fire.gifHere you got some flames, you seem to have learned your lesson. Yeah, I like this picture . Anyway, it seems like any computer in my surrounding breaks down when I'm using it. Last week I burned a stick of RAM out of my PC, today I have a 'click of death' on my portable hard drive. No data is lost happily, it's the drive I store backups on. Time to get some new stuff, but I'm broke until the end of the week... Edited August 3, 2009 by Miech
TheEskimo Posted August 6, 2009 Posted August 6, 2009 Meh...hard work wasted depression. I spend hours slaving: making homemade hemisphers, cutting, pumping, rolling stars, milling BP, granulating BP, coving grass seed with BP, waiting for it all to dry. Then an hour assembling 3 3inchers. Thought they were a little loose in the tube, but thought it would be OK. I go to launch them...they all get about 50 feet in the air.....and the TT stars didn't work....... ...the Winokur 23 worked OK. Atleast I have tons of BP and meal-covered grass seed, though, and some useless TT left over, and a bit of working Win.23.Thats all for tonight. I'm off to sob in the shower, and get all the charcoal off me.....
scarbelly Posted August 7, 2009 Posted August 7, 2009 (edited) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1W_yhAvNFw...re=channel_page At 3:36 I could hardly watch any longer. Also when he said that crackler bombs are made of little black powder pearls. His little medecine container of flash pissed me off as well. I thought it was funny however that he thinks 20 grams of black powder is a lot, and that he has "black powder" and "meal powder" both of which are the same DaAaaAh!!. I lykz k3wl bomzz!!! Edited August 7, 2009 by scarbelly
Pretty green flame Posted August 7, 2009 Author Posted August 7, 2009 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1W_yhAvNFw...re=channel_page At 3:36 I could hardly watch any longer. Also when he said that crackler bombs are made of little black powder pearls. His little medecine container of flash pissed me off as well. I thought it was funny however that he thinks 20 grams of black powder is a lot, and that he has "black powder" and "meal powder" both of which are the same DaAaaAh!!. I lykz k3wl bomzz!!! Let's face it, none of us will ever be as rad as this guy But seriously, this was painful to watch...
Ralph Posted August 7, 2009 Posted August 7, 2009 i agree that it is pitiful but maybe rather than laughing at him we should encourage him to be safer and to make better things he has an interest in areal shells but has no experience (got that from the vid)
RUUUUUN Posted August 7, 2009 Posted August 7, 2009 or we could assassinate him with a spoon so that the liberals in congress attempt to ban silverware because it is soooooooo dangerous!!!! BRILLIANT!
inonickname Posted August 7, 2009 Posted August 7, 2009 (edited) Oh my god, he is just so cool. He is so cool that he uses a screwdriver as a pestle and mortar! Oh my god, he gets me so hard.. Maybe I should send him a video of my small pyro box, he'd probably shit brix.. Edit: Nice "mega flash" brother.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFhLlkmJoQM...feature=channel Edited August 7, 2009 by inonickname
Pretty green flame Posted August 7, 2009 Author Posted August 7, 2009 Edit: Nice "mega flash" brother.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFhLlkmJoQM...feature=channel LOL I love where he says "I use this for lift", god, he's soo awesome.
TheEskimo Posted August 7, 2009 Posted August 7, 2009 Lawl. His meal powder isn't meal powder, its regular greenmix. My mealpowder can function as lift; it's just as fast as his granulated BP. And his flash powder is as fast as my nitrate FP made with bright flake Al; which, by the way makes a noise only if the container it is in is well sealed, and spiked.
scarbelly Posted August 7, 2009 Posted August 7, 2009 lol. his flash was like my first attempt at bp. I eyeballed the ratios and didn't have a scale yet.
inonickname Posted August 8, 2009 Posted August 8, 2009 lol. his flash was like my first attempt at bp. I eyeballed the ratios and didn't have a scale yet. I eyeballed my first batch of BP as well, and it was definitely faster than his "flash". It wasn't even granulated Even my slowest flashes, which I use for filming things like fireballs, cars exploding (think hotwheels) in media are faster than that.
scarbelly Posted August 8, 2009 Posted August 8, 2009 (edited) i agree that it is pitiful but maybe rather than laughing at him we should encourage him to be safer and to make better things he has an interest in areal shells but has no experience (got that from the vid) Ralph is probably right. But as far as the aerial shell goes, there is information all around the web, yet he apparently doesn't even attempt to research (this is judging off of the fact that he asked pyrotechnics88 to make a how to on aerial shells). Actually, it looks like Nighthawkinlight took the initiative as far as talking to him about safety goes. Edited August 8, 2009 by scarbelly
scarbelly Posted August 9, 2009 Posted August 9, 2009 I tried to talk to him and he just got really upset with me... Idk whats up.
RUUUUUN Posted August 9, 2009 Posted August 9, 2009 Maybe he is an idiot-savant, he is just such an incredibly intelligent pyro that no one else can match his GENIUS, and it irritates him the people try to explain to him how things are supposed to work cause they are all wrong! Or he is autistic mebbe....(or jsut retarded)
TheEskimo Posted August 9, 2009 Posted August 9, 2009 I commented on this video: The cavalier attitude people have towards this stuff depresses me.......Check out my comment...
flying fish Posted August 9, 2009 Posted August 9, 2009 (edited) I commented on the earlier video of the kid with the medicine bottles (gotta do SOMETHING while I'm cooling off inside, and it sure as hell isn't going to be homework, lol!) The humidity is still through the roof, even with the sun being out for a good portion of the day. I feel like I'm living in the flippin' rainforest... Edit: Oh...and my mom is now going to make me "balance pyrotechnics with writing my thesis." Oh joy! I know it is for my own good...and I have to respect her wishes since her and my dad are "borrowing/giving" me loads of money to pay for college. I might as well get to work on my final graduation requirements, lol! Edited August 9, 2009 by flying fish
scarbelly Posted August 9, 2009 Posted August 9, 2009 Thanks guys for backing me up. I really wasn't expecting to get textually raped. I was trying to be helpful. I don't know why he's so stuck on the idea that he isn't a beginner. I'm willing to accept that I'm a beginner now and I probably still will be for a year or two or even longer!
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