Last night I filled down my magnesium firestarter bar (the ones you get at camping stores) And I mixed the fine fillings with a little potassium permaganate. When I lit it it made a VERY bright flash. My vision was green for a while from the bright light.

Is this a flash powder that I could use in a firecracker?, or is It just a bright flashy thing?

It is strange because I have a list of flash powder recipies and all of them use aluminum. But none of the recipies said anything about using magnesium.

Magnesium can be used and is indeedpreferable because it is more powerful. However, magnesium mixtures are usually more sensitive and thus more dangerous. Also, magnesium is usually more expensive than aluminum.

If you grind your magnesium into a fine enough powder you can use it in firecrackers. It will be hard to do so with hand tools, but with the right fuel and oxidizer mixture it is possible.

~Zero the Inestimable

quote:

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Originally posted by Zero the Inestimable:
Magnesium can be used and is indeedpreferable because it is more powerful. However, magnesium mixtures are usually more sensitive and thus more dangerous. Also, magnesium is usually more expensive than aluminum.

If you grind your magnesium into a fine enough powder you can use it in firecrackers. It will be hard to do so with hand tools, but with the right fuel and oxidizer mixture it is possible.

~Zero the Inestimable

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Actually the stuff on the block is very easy to grind. I used a grinder, (it was somewhat fine then) & then ball milled it. Even a big 50 mesh or so pieces will crumble by hand.

magnesium makes flash powders more powerful than aluminum will. its weird that it wasnt in whatever you read. the major downfall is its price. if you can get enough, then it would make a better FP than aluminum.

For true high powered flash mixtures you need 450 to 600 mesh flake powder, which cannot be made with a file no matter what you're grinding. Granted, aluminum and magnesium are very easy to grind metals, in the scheme of things, but you need specialized equipment for pyrotechnic metal powders.

~Zero the Inestimable

What about fine sand paper?

I saw some file that talked about a morotised slow-spinning sandpaper drum that you could make.

BTW, this might sound silly but could you use a lego motor and gears for a small ball mill?

You can't grind the stuff as best you could without tools. Use a ball mill with ceramic media and let it go for a few days, sieve out the proper mesh and re-mill the remaining Mg. It takes a while but works.

The most powerful flash powders I've seen were made of magnesium and chlorate or perchlorates as oxidizers. Exploding targets I believe are filled with one of the above mixtures as when burnt the tell tale chlorine smell exists. Mg-Chlorate flash powders are impact sensitive, yet make workable blasting caps in compound detonators or alone if the explosive is an easy to detonate variety.

If you don't have one, you can make a ball mill with a plastic bucket and a low rpm, high torque motor. Use a potentiometer or variable resistor to control speed settings. If you have a high enough torque motor you can set it up to turn the bucket at a 1:1 ratio. If not use a worm gear or reduce with a pulley. You will however grind the bucket away eventually, but they do the job. Speed to use on this set up is generally experimental, don't go so fast as too build up heat or you will grind way too much of your bucket away as well.

Your mixture, if you can get it fine enough, will work well in crackers.

BTW does anyone know where I can buy bulk petroleum jelly from a US distributor? I am starting a business and aside from my excessive masturbation problem, I need some to make soaps and lotions, etc. May as well put some basic chemistry to good use.

I've never had much luck ball milling metals, but that's not to say it can't be done.

I have no idea where to get bulk petrolium jelly. You can probably order a flat of the stuff just like the supermarkets do, though.

~Zero the Inestimable

Christ this is an old topic. (well before I became a mod)

Here is the list:

code:

---

FLASH POWDER FORMULAS
---------------------

1. This formula is one of the best. It
   produces a very, very, extremely
loud explosion.  Easy to ignite with a
fuse.  It is not moisture absorbent.
Not very sensitive to impact or
friction. Sodium Chlorate or Potassium
Chlorate can be used instead of
Potassium Perchlorate but it then
becomes very sensitive to friction and
impact.  4 ounces of this mixture will
produce an explosion equal to one stick
of dynamite!

Potassium Perchlorate           2 oz.
Aluminum Powder 600 Mesh        1 oz.

2. This formula produces and extremely
   loud explosion, almost as good as
formula #1. This is what most fire-
crackers, M-80's and other fireworks
are made with.

Potassium Perchlorate           2 oz.
Aluminum Powder 400 Mesh        1 oz.

3. This formula is equal to formula #2
   It is not sensitive to friction or
impact.

Barium Peroxide                 9 oz.
50%/50% Magnesium aluminum
powder 200 Mesh                 1 oz.

4. This formula works as good as
   formula #2 but it produces a very
bright flash. This formula is what use
to be used for the photo flash for the
old box type cameras about 100 years ago

Barium Nitrate                  3 oz.
Potassium Perchlorate           3 oz.
Aluminum Powder 400 Mesh        4 oz.

5. This formula works very good. It is
   not very impact or friction
Sensitive. It produces a very, very
loud explosion.  Potassium Perchlorate
contains 46.1914% oxygen. Half as
powerful as #2.

Potassium Perchlorate           2 oz.
Sulfur                          1 oz.
Aluminum Powder 400 Mesh        1 oz.

6. This formula works as good as #5 but
   it has a disadvantage of being
moisture absorbent and it is very
impact and friction sensitive. Sodium
Chlorate contains 45.0937% oxygen.
Produces a very, very loud explosion.
Equal to #5.

Sodium Chlorate                 2 oz.
Sulfur                          1 oz.
Aluminum Powder 400 Mesh        1 oz.

7. This formula is very dangerous
   because it is very sensitive to
friction and impact and could explode
during the construction of any
explosive device. Potassium Chlorate
contains 39.1664% oxygen. This formula
produces and explosion almost equal to
#5 or #6. Used in the manufacture of
toy cap pistol caps.

Potassium Chlorate              2 oz.
Sulfur                          1 oz.
Aluminum Powder                 1 oz.

8. This formula is very, very very
   sensitive to impact, friction and
static electricity, even more sensitive
than #7. Extremely dangerous! Will
ignite even when wet.

Potassium Chlorate              6.7 oz.
Red Phosphorus                  2.7 oz.
Sulfur                          0.3 oz.
Calcium Carbonate               0.3 oz.

9. This formula has slightly less
   explosive power than #7. It is
slightly friction and impact sensitive.
Potassium Permanganate contains
40.4961% oxygen. This formula will
ignite itself if it gets wet. Very loud
explosion.

Potassium Permanganate          2 oz.
Sulfur                          1 oz.
Aluminum Powder                 1 oz.

10. This formula produces a very small
    explosion when ignited in a paper
tube. A much louder explosion is
produced when it is ignited in a very
strong container. It is impact and
friction sensitive.

Potassium Chlorate              7.5 oz.
Charcoal dust                   1.5 oz.
Sulfur                          1.0 oz.

11. No information is available about
    this formula.

Potassium Chlorate              6 oz.
Antimony Sulfide                3 oz.
Sulfur                          1 oz.

12. This formula is a little louder
    than formula #10. Impact and
friction sensitive. Produces a small
explosion in a paper container.

Sodium Chlorate                 7.5 oz.
Charcoal dust                   1.5 oz.
Sulfur                          1.0 oz.

13. No information is available about
    this formula.

Potassium Chlorate              7.5 oz.
Gallic acid                     2.2 oz.
Red gum                         0.3 oz.


!CAUTION!
---------

The mixture of any chlorate with
phosphorus or sulfur is extremely
sensitive to friction and percussion
and explodes with great violence.

Chlorate explosives must not be stored
together with ammonium nitrate
explosives, since ammonium chlorate
which is formed when these two
substances are brought in contact,
explodes.

When mixing chlorate explosives, crush
all of the chemicals separately. Sift
the oxidizer through a piece of screen
wire to break up the material into
small pieces. Then sift the other
chemicals also if they need it.

Mix all of the flash powder chemicals
together and mix well by sifting them
through a piece of screen wire or by
shaking them in a ZIP LOCK bag. This
mixture is very sensitive to friction,
impact, heat, spark, static electricity

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[This message has been edited by Rat_Bastard (edited 06-20-2002).]

Equal to a stick of dynamite? I doubt that considering dynamite is high explosive. Are you sure about that?

a common shitty misconseption.

Sorry that was included.

The most common one is calling an M-80 a "quarterstick"

Comparing any LE to HE is pure bullshit.

FIREPOWDER
64% potassium permangate
36% magnesium powder

Can explode unconfined and when confined produces a high pitched report

Would Magnalium (Aluminum+Magnesium (usually 50/50)) be a good substitute for Aluminum as I think its cheaper. I'm assuming this would make your flashpowder a bit more sensitive and more powerful as well.

just because The Real *bows his head in rememberance* posted in here i think this should be sent to the archives it also has ltos of usful info in it and i think that the reals post should be salvaged and saved so this legend and god may never die

Warweed you seem kinda ubsesed(sp)and where can i find the archive???

CTR

thats because i am The Real was a god and he had alot to offer he knew absolutly every thing on the topic of pyrotechnics and was a very helpful man i just think we should salvage what was left of his posts and archive them so that he may be remebered

Who is the real?

he was a god at totse and in BB

read here http://www.totse.com/bbs/Forum3/HTML/005419.html

That quote i had in SG was pretty sad it remindsme of the guy in sawshank redemtion, and was Bad Ideas a good foroum bad when bongman and alan smittiy moded it?

CTR

hmm.... so real has 45 posts (thats what it shows... why not salvage all his posts


just wait.. is that the real the real?

DeusExMachina-That is indeed the real "The Real" After the apartment fire incident he did not go on for a long time & forgot his password so had to sign up again.