I was walking through my local shop and found some of those instant cold bag's which have ammonium nitrate in em'. I was just wondering what % the AN is, and wether it's useable, for say, ANFO or making nitrous?

Yes.

Yes you can use it but you gotta dry it out.

If you have to ask, you have no business fucking with molten oxidizers OR explosives of any kind.

walmart packs are the best buy $4.50 per lb on an ($1.47 a pack), very dry. some other brands are made of urea. ace is ok but not as good as Muller (walmart) there all rougly 100% an.

SN rights, you just need to go back to playing with firecrackers.

Oh and its not 100%, its 5%AN and 90%Dirt and 5%Mystery Meat.

Aah... ammonium nitrate *IS* ANFO. Depending on what company you got it from, the percentage of ammonium nitrate that you have varies. I'm pretty sure that it wouldn't be pure though. Nitrous (aka nitric oxide synthase) is an organically produced enzyme, brought to you by you. If you were talking about the fast and the furious NOS, no you prolly can't turn ANFO into NOS.
Anyway:
ANFO is a tertiary explosive; it has a high velocity and is an oxidizing agent (it contributes to the combustion of other compounds by yielding oxygen for the other compounds to consume.) Detonating ANFO requires an environment that is confined, so it can develop its full pressure potential, however it is a bitch to detonate because it has a relatively low shock sensitivity. If you plan to mix it with fuel, you need to ratio it properly, but toxic fumes can be produced as well as the big boom I'm assuming you want. Additionally, if it really is ANFO, it readily absorbs water from the air, so you might want to store it in a dry place.

Don't blow your face off, and cheers

Aah... ammonium nitrate *IS* ANFO.

ANFO is only ~93% ammonium nitrate, the rest being a fuel oil.

I'm pretty sure that it wouldn't be pure though.

It'll be >90% which is good enough.

Nitrous (aka nitric oxide synthase) is an organically produced enzyme, brought to you by you. If you were talking about the fast and the furious NOS, no you prolly can't turn ANFO into NOS.

Nitrous refers to nitrous oxide, N2O, AKA laughing gas. It's quite easy to use ammonium nitrate to make N2O by the equation NH4NO3 --> N2O + 2 H2O.

it has a high velocity

Although it can get up to 6,000 some meters per second that's still slow for an explosive.

but toxic fumes can be produced as well as the big boom I'm assuming you want.

What?

I think you've confused AN with ANFO.

Although it can get up to 6,000 some meters per second that's still slow for an explosive.


What's easier to gather/use/make ?

3Kg of ANNMAL or 1,5Kg of RDX/PETN, for the same results ?

All this shit about efficiency means little compared to readyness, people interested in explosives don't need fuckin' military designed, bullet-resistant C-type plastics, they need something easy to make and relatively easy to set off.

Nothing above PETN/ANNMAL is used in official demo. work, btw. All this plastics hype doesn't apply to civilian usage (let alone hobbyist!).

You ever tried making a shaped charge with an AN based explosive? Pitiful results.
I've seen demolition contractors using NG/NC blasting gel to shatter steel support beams. Although a large quantity of a weak explosive will give the same end results through sheer volume of gas you can't beat shattering power and brisance.
There's so much more to this hobby than making a big boom.

What?

I think you've confused AN with ANFO.

Eh?
I've heard that ANFO produces carbon monoxide. Flaw in research? Aargh..

Rolling on floor; laughing my ass off.

AN= ammonium nitrate
ANFO = ammonium nitrate fuel oil

yes?

Breathing in Carbon dioxide is one of our last concerns when detonating explosives that require a large amounts of explosive substance in itslef, as well as several additional charges to be set off succesfully.

Never had a dummy using 4g HMTD dets to set off ANNMAL charges.