@@roflryan1 don't think "they" are gonna ban them, but if that happens you just need a pipe that fits the bullet snuggly, a nail and a spring of some kind. That is however for the fireing mechanism and you'll just have to make some kinda mechanism that pulls the spring holding the nail and release it. But, isent the idea of having guns to overthrow the state if they try to go against the constitution by say banning guns?
Very unsafe didn’t wear gloves. You were very informative on the process! Good Job on burn rate! However I wouldn’t dare even try this. Isn’t this illegal? Don’t you need a ATF license? Surprised you don’t have a guy Faulk mask on, the ATF means business and their not to be trifled with. However I do like “How and Why stuff works” Thanks for the knowledge. Be Safe
@@mooretreeservice do you mean "guy fawkes" mask? The guy tryin to blow up the british parliament way back when, cause he was in a rebel group, enemy to the brits. No need wearing gloves as long as the baking soda water "neutralizer liquid" sits right beside you on the table. You saw it, he rinsed his hamd just before it went itchy...thats just enough to avoid acid burns, he didnt even had stains on his hands that day later. Watch out pal, do not blow yourself up.
Of course it would be easier to use Nitric Acid, if you can get it, but for the process shown: KNO3 + H2SO4 = K2SO4 + HNO3 The reaction stoichiometry indicates you need 48.5g of H2SO4 for 100g of KNO3. The reaction products are Potassium Sulphate, K2SO4 and Nitric Acid, HNO3.
I am a fire performer, I do fire magic along with fire spinning. I like to combine these two worlds and make an awesome show. Flash cotton I use alot! It's expensive. I tried this method at home and IT WORKS!! I AM SO HAPPY!! THANK YOU!
Schel Sullivan the funny thing is, that this is basically the method used to extract 70% or 99% nitric acid, You’re missing The methylene chloride phase of the reacting mixture with cooling. Anyway you method for nitrocellulose works, keep the videos rolling out!! :) also I would be interested to see how much nitrogen content you’re achieving, at least 11% to 13%?
Alright! It took me a couple of years but I just watched this video. Wow, what a great tutorial! Even including FLIR to measure the temperature changes. You, my man, are the Guncotton King of America! Seriously though, so good, and much improved over your previous video. Thanks for the info.
Great instructional :) You can use litmus paper to test the cotton mass for nitrate residual, may save you some time. I also remember reading up on this years ago and distilled water was recommended for some reason. It was important, but I cant recall why. You can also use a natural solvent to dissolve the guncotton in preparation for mold casting. For example shotgun powder made from guncotton is small flat discs with a hole in the middle and rifle powder looks like small cylinders similar to pencil lead maybe two millimeters long. This effects the burn time and therefore the build up pressure time of the expansion during the explosion in the barrel. Cheers :)
I was always interested with making all the parts of a weapon from ground up and projectile, the chemistry of the projectile I mean was the missing part. Thanks for the video.
Use strike anywhere match head powder instead, ~10 heads should be enough for a 9mm idk how much for rifle calibers This flashes more than it pushes, if you notice he burns it in his hands just fine whereas gunpowder will hurt you if you do that
@@_EllieLOL_ don’t do this. You even compress that a little reloading with match heads and it will go off. This guy is actually making smokeless propellant by name. Used in modern firearms. Definitely the safer way to go
I see you made a toxic waste hole as well! My friend and I used to do little experiments in his driveway, like making a penny stove, or Rocket Candy, or filling a balloon with oxy-acetalyne and popping it with a match. Good times. He dug a little hole in the ground in the brush next to the driveway, and we would always dump whatever acid or toxic byproducts we made into it. Incidentally, all the plants around that hole died, for some reason.
That "crystal" in there i believe are the potassium sulfate byproducts of the sulfuric acid, as the potassuim is stripped away from the kno3, to make the nitric acid in situ. Washing the cotton with water dissolves it away quite effectively. And yes, those fumes are toxic. They are a mixture of suphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and water vapor.
This was great! Reminded me of the "good ol' days" of the internet back before it got so corporate and everybody lost their mind. I first heard of nitrocellulose as a wood finish. It is what Fender used on their guitars in the 50's and 60's. You can imagine how flammable that had to be! I doubt I will ever make it but after watching this I think that I could. Nice to see a video that does address safety yet doesn't demand you have $1000s in equipment before you can try somthing like this. Gloves probably would have been a good idea as well as goggles. However every time I start out with goggles I wind up removing them halfway through becase they fog up and I can't see. If I ever try this I will put on safety glasses. This was very enjoyable to watch and I will check out your other videos.
Schel, I hope you see this. You asked in your first video on nitrocellulose, How can the fibers be separated? I say, by "carding". Carding is the separation and straightening of fibers in the preparation of them being spun into yarn... My great-grandmother still had and used carding paddles for wool when I was a kid. All fiber carding paddles I have seen have steel pins, which should not be used for the purpose of teasing out cotton nitrocellulose, obviously sparky. The key is to find, or make, carding paddles (or another combing system.) with non-sparking pins... I hope this post finds you well Schel. Enjoying you channel. -tjb-
*Click the adds on video and help Schel to keep doing great videos !* dont be lazy because you watch real scientist on yt and nobody make great NC like Schel
What happens is that, when confined, the gun cotton burns and the gas which is generated creates pressure. As the pressure increases, the nitrocellulose burns faster and creates more pressure. It's a feedback loop. Charting this on a graph, the line sweeps upward dramatically. All of this increasing pressure feedback, and resultant burning rate increase, takes place in 1/1000th of a second or less, much faster than the speed at which it burns on your open hand. For a lifetime, I've worked continuously with a long list of single and double-base smokeless gunpowders (those made from a mixture of nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine); 61 years now, and you would not believe how slowly they all burn in the open, or in an ashtray. A quarter teaspoon may take three to ten seconds, depending upon the powder number. So when bottled up, a tuft of harmless looking gun cotton is like an atomic bomb, compared to the relatively weakened smokeless gunpowder made from it. The bottom line is, please be very careful with this stuff. It only looks like "ordinary old cotton" after nitration. You've got a tiger by the tail. Have fun, but be careful, and study to learn everything you can about the chemistry and characteristics of such substances when working with them. They are fascinating but unforgiving. Arms and eyes don't grow back as fast as fingernails.
I'm a magician, not a chemistry major and have recently ' discovered' flash(gun) cotton. In my routine I use glycerine in my smoke generator(a couple drops on a hot coil covered with heavy felt) I use to use mineral oil or baby oil. But recently it was suggested to use glycerin. In my routine I ignite a BB size (very loose) of cotton in the palm of my hand without any injuries. I would like to add a very small miniscule drop of glycerin to add smoke. What would happen to the chemical composition and heat generated. At present I can tolerate the slight discomfort the cotton produces, but I'm not interested in the China syndrome or worse in the palm of my hand! I know what I don't know and this is one of those times. I know certain things shouldn't be mixed like bleach and acids, ammonia/iodine and such. But this, I don't even want to try to mess with without some guidance from an expert. Any help or advice would greatly be appreciated. I definitely don't want to lose a hand in the middle of a children's ward!
@@philohio thank you for the reply. I'm always leary of doing things I know nothing about in the fear of F'n up big-time. In my younger years not so much!😂 I know when glycerin is dropped on potassium permanganate it will start a fire. I guess as I got older I got a little smarter but not much wiser. Chemical reactions always interested me, but only after someone else did it without dying! Just didnt want to create an explosive of some kind and getting my ass in trouble!
@@wizardwillbonner Will, what happens with your magician's method of burning glycerin to create smoke is that the glycerin is subjected to a great amount of heat suddenly. But when a tuft of nitrocellulose is ignited on your hand, it burns instantly, creating so little heat that your hand hardly feels it. And anyway, the glycerin-soggy stuff would not ignite. In the commercial manufacture of smokeless gunpowder, made by dissolving guncotton in a mixture of ether and acetone, various amounts of other chemicals and lubricants are added, to change the burning rate and other characteristics of the final product. The jelly-like product is then extruded into various grain shapes and sizes, with surface areas which also influence burning rate. The solvents evaporate and you have grains ranging from the size of the period at the end of a sentence, to grains you can hold in your hand, for 16" naval guns. It would be possible to add an ingredient to make as much or as little smoke you want, and in any color. All you need is a multi-million dollar ammunition factory and the, in my opinion brilliant, scientists to do it. The subject has fascinated me since the first time I made guncotton in about 1957. I still have a tuft of it, which has not deteriorated or changed color in any way. FYI: The maximum shelf life of smokeless powder ammunition first made around 1920 has not yet been determined, except that some types of primers become nonfunctional after 30 - 50 years. Some pistol and rifle ammunition made during WW-I (around 1917) will still work just fine. I have some. So again, your question revives a lot of memories about my long-time fascination with an amazing substance, common old cotton transformed by immersion in a mixture of nitric and sulphuric acid. Of course, the process is a good bit more complicated.
@@philohio wow, you answered a million questions I was always curious about but in today's world, I wasn't 'that' curious! I make my own cotton an I'm get satisfactory results on the flash, not as fast as I like but it's a lot faster than the commercial flash paper I ordered. What can I use to make my own flash paper I would like to use something thin like rolling papers. I don't want to be a pita but you seem to have the knowledge I seek and I thank you for your time.
I am so jealous of the summer thunderstorms...I live in California but I used to spend my summers in Ohio and I miss those summer thunderstorms. Lucky dog.
You remind me when I first started chemistry. No gloves, drops of acid everywhere, using glass from my moms kitchen. Dangerous as hell but the fun excitement of the result outweighed it all. Don’t listen to these haters. Most start out like this, one day you’ll be angerly commenting on videos about how dangerous their conduct is as well. It’s a matter of not getting maimed by chemicals before you invest in proper glassware and PPE. It’s okay to be using gloves in this. It’s not concentrated enough to catch them on fire.
This method is useful for making the “paper” for paper cartridges used in black powder cap & call revolvers & Sharps rifles. Substitute rice paper cigarette rolling papers for the cotton balls for use with the cap & ball revolvers. Larger paper, or 100% light cotton cloth, for the Sharps.
cooler is too big. love watching video. I used to set charges in a mine. drill holes shove in sticks of dynamite add blasting cap run wires and hit the bricks. had so much dynamite used to have fun blasting around.
This is fantastic! I was looking into making flash paper and guncotton for magic supply, I have done this before using the acids but I'm not sure about where to get those now. This method (along with comments below about extra/neutralizing washes for safety) looks like it has many improvements over the original methods. Without proper washing, nitrated cellulose can become spontaneously explosive, this happened with some of the original guncotton factories that weren't washing adequately... the factories blew up. Anyway, great job Shel, keep up the great work!
(8:30) - That acid mix would cool a lot quicker if you simply poured it into the square dish, and put that dish into the ice bath, because the dish has much more surface area that would be in contact with the ice water. >
It would essentially be a single base powder. However you do need to add an unknown amount of Nitroglycerin. Much too dangerous to make. Also possibly aluminum dust and graphite. Nitrocellulose is relatively too unstable to use in a cartridge. You would need a scale capable of measuring tenths of a grain. You will also need a brass rod and good knowledge of over pressure signs. If you have zero "experience" reloading your own cartridges you will be prone to losing fingers, eye sight and possibly life.
Use strike anywhere match head powder instead, ~10 heads should be enough for a 9mm idk how much for rifle calibers This flashes more than it pushes, if you notice he burns it in his hands just fine whereas gunpowder will hurt you if you do that
One day I'm going to have to make some videos and start a channel that I will have to name "Shell Sullivan Made Me Do It". Mahalo for your channel Brah. Sometime I'll have to send you some video of the tweaks I have made to things that you have done. The gun cotton gun gave me some ideas that you'll love.
I made mine on a small scale. I only soaked One(1) cotton ball. once it drys, I am thinking about stuffing a little bit on it in one of my BP revolvers. I haven't had the opportunity to do any Chemistry sine 1998. I miss it. Thanks Thumbs Up, as usual.
Use strike anywhere match head powder instead, ~10 heads should be enough for a 9mm idk how much for rifle calibers This flashes more than it pushes, if you notice he burns it in his hands just fine whereas gunpowder will hurt you if you do that
I heard that the Aussies and New Zealanders made what they called Jam Tin Grenades at Gallipoli. They were tin cans, fuses and pieces of guncotton. After seeing this stuff in action, I can kind of see how.
You can't do this stuff without learning those things as well. Hopefully I'll never have to use my skills for anything other than entertainment and education
To Schel and all you commenters, I and several friends first did this 64 years ago, using nitric and sulpheric acid. It takes 15 to 30 minutes, not 24 hours. Heating the raw nitrated cotton in a neutralizing solution for about 15 minutes makes a much better product. Then rinse and dry. Always use safety goggles and gloves, until neutralized. Don't get casual. Stay alive. This isn't baking cookies. NEVER EVER think about reloading ammunition with this raw gun cotton. The burning rate is light years too fast. It will spectacularly burst the chamber, blowing the gun and portions of you apart. The manufacture of safe and stable smokeless powder from nitrocellulose (gun cotton) is a sophisticated and highly technical process which produces many different chemical mixes and grain types for a wide range of burning rates in different firearms. I've been reloading about 50 types of rounds for 60 years, so I know about powder and nitrocellulose. Again, don't try to reload with gun cotton, unless your life insurance is paid up. It harmlessly flashes in the hand, and is great for show-and-tell videos, etc., but when confined in a steel chamber, the burning rate and pressure skyrocket dramatically. We're talking 14,000 to 35,000 pounds per square inch, for the toned down versions, safe for ammunition reloading. What Schel is producing is wa-a-a-ay over that! There is tremendous energy in that seemingly innocent looking tuft of cotton. It only looks harmless.
Yeah I've seen the videos of how it was used in the mining industry. Under compression even giant Boulders don't stand a chance, much less the barrel of a gun
As a trained chemist, I can see this process obviously does work. But, your methods are actually kind of frightening they are in such violation of safe lab practice. No wonder people get hurt messing with this stuff. Goggles! Latex gloves are practically dirt cheap! Any kind of respirator is better than none! But a $20.00 carbon filtered respirator would be excellent. At the very least, you wore a lab coat- excellent! Any exothermic reaction process should be thermally controlled, which means at the very least a thermometer should be used to at least have a more actuate control than testing an reaction vessel with your flesh!. Holding the container filled with reacting acid with bare hands is just nuts. I know you feel comfortable with your back yard process. But, please, showing this to the public is irresponsible with such careless lab practice. Please, don't take offence that I am being critical. God bless you for an interesting vid. But, think about the inexperienced kids who might be trying to copy your cavalier methods.
Your right, I kinda of play a bit loose with this process because Ive done it so many times. There is an old adage about carpenters "newbies rarely loose fingers with power tools, its the guy with 20 years experience who become complacent that makes the mistake"
At least a rudimentary fume hood is better than nothing and allows you to do the experiment inside in controlled conditions. I work with some nasty stuff that requires a fume hood, would not want to be around that without it... I work with Bromoform for mineral separation, the stuff is supposed to be toxic with vapors that can knock you out and possibly kill you. You can build a box, and install a kitchen hood with high CFM that blows air from inside the lab to outside (possibly with a good filter too). Have sliding windows to allow you to lower to protect yourself from harmful vapor and splashes. You can also make a backyard "fume hood" by doing your experiment inside, but at a window. The experiment would be set on the outside of the window and the window lowered halfway to keep fume out. Preferably the kind that pulls up and down (not the side to side kind). I've done some pyro experiments this way. Not the safest but better than being exposed.
Australian Pyro :I remember being a kid, I just was told "to be carefull', and that was it.! Yet NOWADAYS, éverybody is waving his fingerlike they're ALL the safety police and they're all out to get a fucking medal for telling people off.!! EXACTLY like thegovern is doing with the people... "Safety is become theNr one priority"... MY ASS.. FUN is STILL MY Priority.! Even are a few mishaps, wounds and scars! Do you think the endless bitching of the govern is changing my mind.? And WHY, do you Sheeple Kéép yapping & repeating all that crap like a bunch of brainwashed morons.?? Sometimes éven turning into TRAITORS, to show HOW "good little sheeple" you all are... How about Minding your OWN BUISNESS.?? Is Thàt so hard to do.?? Cause trust Mé... Your advice isDef NOT Apreciated... I find it annoying AF.!And I'm 54... Think you're Still gonna "change" Mé, into YOU.??
Might i suggest rigging up a five gallon bucket of water, with a siphon running into rinsing container with an outlet and adjusting the flow rate. It would require less attention and work. You could test the outflow from the rinsing container with litmus paper from time to time.... Thanks for posting this informative video.....
also im pretty sure you can reuse sulfuric acid (it's a catalyst after all, and doesn't fume) by evaporating it after your nitration, and then all you'll need to replace is your potassium nitrate as it's expended. not totally sure though.
Temu has these spring loaded egg beaters. I don't know how long they would last around the acid , but they wisk really well with just an up and down motion.
dude thank you for your instruction, you're right when I wash it, It's not cold enough, so when I tried again with very cold water, and it's work until the end once again thank you dude :)
Movie film was also made from nitrocellulose, which is why old movie storage warehouses used to burn down, making many old movies either rare or extinct.
That's so hot it's cool... or is it so cool it's hot? Either way that's a really great video on making gun cotton. Can't wait for the videos of creative uses for gun cotton.
hey schel,,,do you have veg garden? if so,,keep all your waste from making your cotton,,works very well for fertilizer,, just dilute with 20 more gallon of water
I'd like to have a go at playing with different experiments, except in Australia it's too hard to purchase any chemicals. Keep up the good work mate. Cheers.........
18 degrees celsius, just as long as it is below 19 degrees celsius (you need to control the temp of the thermal reaction !!! AT ALL TIMES !!!), if you can near 0 degrees celsius is the best for the process after the cottons have been saturated (it bonds the chemicals to the fuel molecules strongly). If you can saturate the cotton balls at about 5 minutes after reactions take place when you start the mix between the chemicals is the best (did I mention you need to control the temp !!! AT ALL TIMES !!!. Make the cotton balls very small about the size of marble 1cm in diameter (compressed). And do not store many marble sized balls in the same container after you are done. I like to wrap tin foil around the balls to prevent ignition and wrapping some duck tape around the the ball after wrapped with tin foil makes a very nice cracker.
Question: Would this land me in hot water with the ATF? I'm looking at making some for single base smokeless powder, yet everything I can find in 27 CFR Reg. 555 only relates to the commercial manufacture of the stuff.
I've always complied with the rules and regulations supplied by ATF documents. They are all online. I make tiny amounts, use it all that day, never store or transport.
Thanks, thats why I wanted to revisit this topic, to upgrade it to my current skill level. Im hoping to get some camera and audio equipment upgrades soon.
Question. I see you prefer to let the acid and potassium nitrate just set with minimal stirring. I'm wondering what if you just let it be until the reaction was totally complete and allow it to cool down to room temp on its own? Would the resultant solution then be able to be capped and stored for nitrating the cotton balls at a later date?
+Chaos Incarnate I'm pretty sure Cody did a gun cotton video. I think it's called boom shorts. Also nighthawkinlight has some older videos on gun cotton.
kind of random soaks them for 5 minutes and they turn out great. this is an unnecessarily long time to nitrate? also it becomes a crystalized cake and takes way longer to rinse when you leave it that long
A good video if your familiar with handling chemicals and highly reactive materials but it reminds me of the expression 'I know enough to be dangerous', which usually means 'I don't know enough to be safe'.
take out a loan use pyrex containers. wow putting regular glass at 100 degrees into cold water. PS add a little NaCL to water to lower temp. sorry i used to be a chemist.
Is There A Survivalist Use For GunCotton In Reloading Ammo? Wasn't This The First Smokeless Gunpowder? What Long Term Storage Of Chemicals.. Thank You.. I Will Investigate.. But I Find So Many Knowledgeable RUclipsrs Out There..
It is a rather involved process to turn guncotton into a usable propellant and also takes a lot of work developing loads using the product. A good history of guncotton or Cordite might provide some useful information.
7:18 am My question is, does the reaction temperature need to stay below the 70 degree benchmark or only after you place the cotton balls. I'm having a hard time keeping the reaction temp below 70 degrees
And yeah I am subscribed to your channel I enjoy watching them I don't have a working dehumidifier to get rid of the moisture in the air I think it is messing up my powder I used all my saw dust up to I guess I am stuck making duds on a good note at least my materials are not to much a few grams of this and that it could be worse 😌
Would using cotton pads, instead of cotton balls, and then shredding them dry, before acidifying and nitrating save the tearing apart of wet cotton balls at the end, as well as simplify drying the separated fibers? I do think that using bicarbonate to neutralize the acid when the cotton is separated like that would make it much easier to rinse out - and then diluting the residual water with alcohol, pressing out the excess, and then air drying it, would speed drying, as well. Alcohol evaporates much faster than water. Just a few thoughts.
The hard cotton is the result of mixing the potassium nitrate with the sulfic acid right? ... you still have lots of potassium hydrogene sulfate in there, that is not desolving very well .?
In the day this was banned because of spontaneous ignition. This is because cotton is hollow and it holds the acid witch you can't get out. That's way they use cellulose because it get's ride of this problem. YOUR WELLCOME be safe :-)
KS. You seem to have some chemical understanding of this stuff. Okay, we know that heat is a problem........ Any idea what happens if instead of potassium nitrate you used potassium chlorate ( KCIO3)?? Can it be used for making gun cotton or would it generate to much heat in process of curing? When mixed with powdered aluminum it burns like a sparkler but if compressed it can be nasty stuff and detonate. Just curious......
@@glenrye9091 The clo3 is the sibling of chloric acid therefore you're dealing with two different animals. Gun cotton is nitrated and therefore has the (no) nitro group. Potassium chlorate is or has the potential to be extremely dangerous (because of its low reaction temperature) meaning it will give up it's oxygen easily. Please do some research on kclo3 It has killed and maimed many people. As there are things you can never mix with it. Stay safe
Making explosives outdoors during a thunderstorm. Fucking legend.
Local Amish Bakery sells Food Grade Potassium Nitrate. It sits on the shelf next to powdered sugar. I chuckle when I see it.
I just replenished my supply. 5lbs for $17.77 from a fertilizer store.
schel sullivan not a bad deal for 5 pounds!
schel sullivan just buy chilisalpeter. I can get 5 kilos for 7€
Can you give us a label. I cant seem to find it
Spectracide brand
The mad scientist working with thunder and lightning in the background. Classic.
Sounded great
the earlier video had some sort of weird tik-tik-tik in the background that sounded like an alien was lurking close by.
The coat gives an air of legitimacy, excellent content.
Welp, I'm back on that watchlist again...
I never left it ... 😆
Lol too late for me i voted republican
We will all be soon when they try to ban our guns and we watch videos on how to make guns.
@@roflryan1 don't think "they" are gonna ban them, but if that happens you just need a pipe that fits the bullet snuggly, a nail and a spring of some kind. That is however for the fireing mechanism and you'll just have to make some kinda mechanism that pulls the spring holding the nail and release it. But, isent the idea of having guns to overthrow the state if they try to go against the constitution by say banning guns?
@Milesfem this almost got me fired from a good paying custom aluminum fabrication job in the 90s😂😂
"Don't try this at home"
Me watching cos am tryna make this at my home
he warned us! ;)
Cant be *that* dangerous when *HE* is surviving it !!! 😎😂😂
Very unsafe didn’t wear gloves. You were very informative on the process! Good Job on burn rate! However I wouldn’t dare even try this. Isn’t this illegal? Don’t you need a ATF license? Surprised you don’t have a guy Faulk mask on, the ATF means business and their not to be trifled with. However I do like “How and Why stuff works” Thanks for the knowledge. Be Safe
@@mooretreeservice do you mean "guy fawkes" mask?
The guy tryin to blow up the british parliament way back when, cause he was in a rebel group, enemy to the brits.
No need wearing gloves as long as the baking soda water "neutralizer liquid" sits right beside you on the table.
You saw it, he rinsed his hamd just before it went itchy...thats just enough to avoid acid burns, he didnt even had stains on his hands that day later.
Watch out pal, do not blow yourself up.
@@mooretreeservice check with your local state laws .... different places have different regulations ...
Of course it would be easier to use Nitric Acid, if you can get it, but for the process shown:
KNO3 + H2SO4 = K2SO4 + HNO3
The reaction stoichiometry indicates you need 48.5g of H2SO4 for 100g of KNO3. The reaction products are Potassium Sulphate, K2SO4 and Nitric Acid, HNO3.
I am a fire performer, I do fire magic along with fire spinning. I like to combine these two worlds and make an awesome show. Flash cotton I use alot! It's expensive. I tried this method at home and IT WORKS!! I AM SO HAPPY!! THANK YOU!
Even the dog is excited.
The "raising of the fist at the sky" was classic. Luv'd it!
If I ever make gun cotton, I'll definitely use your method, seems great. 👌
This method is great if you dont have access to chem lab grade sulfuric and nitric acids.
Schel Sullivan the funny thing is, that this is basically the method used to extract 70% or 99% nitric acid, You’re missing The methylene chloride phase of the reacting mixture with cooling. Anyway you method for nitrocellulose works, keep the videos rolling out!! :) also I would be interested to see how much nitrogen content you’re achieving, at least 11% to 13%?
What is the work of baking soda in this?
@@shariqkhan6627 it neutralises any leftover acids
Love your videos, from canada.
Calm down, people. He's weearing his safety beard.
Alright! It took me a couple of years but I just watched this video. Wow, what a great tutorial! Even including FLIR to measure the temperature changes. You, my man, are the Guncotton King of America! Seriously though, so good, and much improved over your previous video. Thanks for the info.
Ty. I copied the recipe from Cody's lab mostly!
@@schelsullivan can you help me please?
Great instructional :) You can use litmus paper to test the cotton mass for nitrate residual, may save you some time. I also remember reading up on this years ago and distilled water was recommended for some reason. It was important, but I cant recall why. You can also use a natural solvent to dissolve the guncotton in preparation for mold casting. For example shotgun powder made from guncotton is small flat discs with a hole in the middle and rifle powder looks like small cylinders similar to pencil lead maybe two millimeters long. This effects the burn time and therefore the build up pressure time of the expansion during the explosion in the barrel. Cheers :)
I was always interested with making all the parts of a weapon from ground up and projectile, the chemistry of the projectile I mean was the missing part. Thanks for the video.
Use strike anywhere match head powder instead, ~10 heads should be enough for a 9mm idk how much for rifle calibers
This flashes more than it pushes, if you notice he burns it in his hands just fine whereas gunpowder will hurt you if you do that
@@_EllieLOL_ don’t do this. You even compress that a little reloading with match heads and it will go off. This guy is actually making smokeless propellant by name. Used in modern firearms. Definitely the safer way to go
@@_EllieLOL_ You can also make it from cap gun ammo. 1 circle should be enough for a load.
I see you made a toxic waste hole as well! My friend and I used to do little experiments in his driveway, like making a penny stove, or Rocket Candy, or filling a balloon with oxy-acetalyne and popping it with a match. Good times. He dug a little hole in the ground in the brush next to the driveway, and we would always dump whatever acid or toxic byproducts we made into it. Incidentally, all the plants around that hole died, for some reason.
Are you sure he didn't pee in the hole?
Love the lab coat schel! Always entertaining and informative.
Thanks Barb! did you my steak cooking video I just released?
That "crystal" in there i believe are the potassium sulfate byproducts of the sulfuric acid, as the potassuim is stripped away from the kno3, to make the nitric acid in situ. Washing the cotton with water dissolves it away quite effectively.
And yes, those fumes are toxic. They are a mixture of suphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and water vapor.
Thunder ! The Nitro Gods are angry for sharing alchemy with humankind.
This was great!
Reminded me of the "good ol' days" of the internet back before it got so corporate and everybody lost their mind.
I first heard of nitrocellulose as a wood finish.
It is what Fender used on their guitars in the 50's and 60's.
You can imagine how flammable that had to be!
I doubt I will ever make it but after watching this I think that I could.
Nice to see a video that does address safety yet doesn't demand you have $1000s in equipment before you can try somthing like this.
Gloves probably would have been a good idea as well as goggles.
However every time I start out with goggles I wind up removing them halfway through becase they fog up and I can't see.
If I ever try this I will put on safety glasses.
This was very enjoyable to watch and I will check out your other videos.
Thx for updating the subject 👍😁👍
totally loved your presentation and you explained some points that where well under looked by others.thanks mate
MAZZA.
Totally agreed
Schel, I hope you see this. You asked in your first video on nitrocellulose, How can the fibers be separated? I say, by "carding". Carding is the separation and straightening of fibers in the preparation of them being spun into yarn... My great-grandmother still had and used carding paddles for wool when I was a kid. All fiber carding paddles I have seen have steel pins, which should not be used for the purpose of teasing out cotton nitrocellulose, obviously sparky. The key is to find, or make, carding paddles (or another combing system.) with non-sparking pins... I hope this post finds you well Schel. Enjoying you channel. -tjb-
You could card the cotton balls to make a "rope" of cotton fibers. That's what my mother used to do with her wool before she spun it into yarn.
Washes the hell out of it, dumps into the crash can xD. Awesome method man
*Click the adds on video and help Schel to keep doing great videos !* dont be lazy because you watch real scientist on yt and nobody make great NC like Schel
I've got a patreon to
What happens is that, when confined, the gun cotton burns and the gas which is generated creates pressure. As the pressure increases, the nitrocellulose burns faster and creates more pressure. It's a feedback loop. Charting this on a graph, the line sweeps upward dramatically. All of this increasing pressure feedback, and resultant burning rate increase, takes place in 1/1000th of a second or less, much faster than the speed at which it burns on your open hand.
For a lifetime, I've worked continuously with a long list of single and double-base smokeless gunpowders (those made from a mixture of nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine); 61 years now, and you would not believe how slowly they all burn in the open, or in an ashtray. A quarter teaspoon may take three to ten seconds, depending upon the powder number. So when bottled up, a tuft of harmless looking gun cotton is like an atomic bomb, compared to the relatively weakened smokeless gunpowder made from it. The bottom line is, please be very careful with this stuff. It only looks like "ordinary old cotton" after nitration. You've got a tiger by the tail. Have fun, but be careful, and study to learn everything you can about the chemistry and characteristics of such substances when working with them. They are fascinating but unforgiving. Arms and eyes don't grow back as fast as fingernails.
I'm a magician, not a chemistry major and have recently ' discovered' flash(gun) cotton. In my routine I use glycerine in my smoke generator(a couple drops on a hot coil covered with heavy felt) I use to use mineral oil or baby oil. But recently it was suggested to use glycerin. In my routine I ignite a BB size (very loose) of cotton in the palm of my hand without any injuries. I would like to add a very small miniscule drop of glycerin to add smoke. What would happen to the chemical composition and heat generated. At present I can tolerate the slight discomfort the cotton produces, but I'm not interested in the China syndrome or worse in the palm of my hand! I know what I don't know and this is one of those times. I know certain things shouldn't be mixed like bleach and acids, ammonia/iodine and such. But this, I don't even want to try to mess with without some guidance from an expert. Any help or advice would greatly be appreciated. I definitely don't want to lose a hand in the middle of a children's ward!
@@wizardwillbonner I wouldn't work at all. The guncotton would not ignite and burn.
@@philohio thank you for the reply. I'm always leary of doing things I know nothing about in the fear of F'n up big-time. In my younger years not so much!😂 I know when glycerin is dropped on potassium permanganate it will start a fire. I guess as I got older I got a little smarter but not much wiser. Chemical reactions always interested me, but only after someone else did it without dying! Just didnt want to create an explosive of some kind and getting my ass in trouble!
@@wizardwillbonner
Will, what happens with your magician's method of burning glycerin to create smoke is that the glycerin is subjected to a great amount of heat suddenly. But when a tuft of nitrocellulose is ignited on your hand, it burns instantly, creating so little heat that your hand hardly feels it. And anyway, the glycerin-soggy stuff would not ignite.
In the commercial manufacture of smokeless gunpowder, made by dissolving guncotton in a mixture of ether and acetone, various amounts of other chemicals and lubricants are added, to change the burning rate and other characteristics of the final product. The jelly-like product is then extruded into various grain shapes and sizes, with surface areas which also influence burning rate. The solvents evaporate and you have grains ranging from the size of the period at the end of a sentence, to grains you can hold in your hand, for 16" naval guns. It would be possible to add an ingredient to make as much or as little smoke you want, and in any color. All you need is a multi-million dollar ammunition factory and the, in my opinion brilliant, scientists to do it. The subject has fascinated me since the first time I made guncotton in about 1957. I still have a tuft of it, which has not deteriorated or changed color in any way. FYI: The maximum shelf life of smokeless powder ammunition first made around 1920 has not yet been determined, except that some types of primers become nonfunctional after 30 - 50 years. Some pistol and rifle ammunition made during WW-I (around 1917) will still work just fine. I have some. So again, your question revives a lot of memories about my long-time fascination with an amazing substance, common old cotton transformed by immersion in a mixture of nitric and sulphuric acid. Of course, the process is a good bit more complicated.
@@philohio wow, you answered a million questions I was always curious about but in today's world, I wasn't 'that' curious! I make my own cotton an I'm get satisfactory results on the flash, not as fast as I like but it's a lot faster than the commercial flash paper I ordered. What can I use to make my own flash paper I would like to use something thin like rolling papers. I don't want to be a pita but you seem to have the knowledge I seek and I thank you for your time.
I am so jealous of the summer thunderstorms...I live in California but I used to spend my summers in Ohio and I miss those summer thunderstorms. Lucky dog.
The sky puts on the best pyro show!
I love it,yeah it's fun to play with
You remind me when I first started chemistry. No gloves, drops of acid everywhere, using glass from my moms kitchen. Dangerous as hell but the fun excitement of the result outweighed it all. Don’t listen to these haters. Most start out like this, one day you’ll be angerly commenting on videos about how dangerous their conduct is as well. It’s a matter of not getting maimed by chemicals before you invest in proper glassware and PPE.
It’s okay to be using gloves in this. It’s not concentrated enough to catch them on fire.
hey schel, you should get a magnetic stirrer for this, they are dirt cheap now, like $30-40, it can keep it stirring while you are away
Wouldn't work for very long. As you can see in the video, in his process the whole thing form a crystaline mass.
those omaha steak coolers are legit man. they work really really well.
This method is useful for making the “paper” for paper cartridges used in black powder cap & call revolvers & Sharps rifles. Substitute rice paper cigarette rolling papers for the cotton balls for use with the cap & ball revolvers. Larger paper, or 100% light cotton cloth, for the Sharps.
You've a fantastic channel mate, thanks for all of your content!
Albert Saran thanks man I just do what's fun hope you guys enjoy it
3-2-1 Contact fever dream. Well done sir!
cooler is too big. love watching video. I used to set charges in a mine. drill holes shove in sticks of dynamite add blasting cap run wires and hit the bricks. had so much dynamite used to have fun blasting around.
sounds like fun
BTW, dynamite is not the same a gun cotton
This is fantastic! I was looking into making flash paper and guncotton for magic supply, I have done this before using the acids but I'm not sure about where to get those now. This method (along with comments below about extra/neutralizing washes for safety) looks like it has many improvements over the original methods. Without proper washing, nitrated cellulose can become spontaneously explosive, this happened with some of the original guncotton factories that weren't washing adequately... the factories blew up. Anyway, great job Shel, keep up the great work!
(8:30) - That acid mix would cool a lot quicker if you simply poured it into the square dish, and put that dish into the ice bath, because the dish has much more surface area that would be in contact with the ice water.
>
Can you make a video where you use this to reload rifle rounds
It would essentially be a single base powder. However you do need to add an unknown amount of Nitroglycerin. Much too dangerous to make. Also possibly aluminum dust and graphite. Nitrocellulose is relatively too unstable to use in a cartridge. You would need a scale capable of measuring tenths of a grain. You will also need a brass rod and good knowledge of over pressure signs. If you have zero "experience" reloading your own cartridges you will be prone to losing fingers, eye sight and possibly life.
Use strike anywhere match head powder instead, ~10 heads should be enough for a 9mm idk how much for rifle calibers
This flashes more than it pushes, if you notice he burns it in his hands just fine whereas gunpowder will hurt you if you do that
Too risky! Canister powders are very specific for reasons.
I might experiment with cordite, but even that is risky.
One day I'm going to have to make some videos and start a channel that I will have to name "Shell Sullivan Made Me Do It".
Mahalo for your channel Brah. Sometime I'll have to send you some video of the tweaks I have made to things that you have done. The gun cotton gun gave me some ideas that you'll love.
I made mine on a small scale. I only soaked One(1) cotton ball. once it drys, I am thinking about stuffing a little bit on it in one of my BP revolvers. I haven't had the opportunity to do any Chemistry sine 1998. I miss it. Thanks Thumbs Up, as usual.
Use strike anywhere match head powder instead, ~10 heads should be enough for a 9mm idk how much for rifle calibers
This flashes more than it pushes, if you notice he burns it in his hands just fine whereas gunpowder will hurt you if you do that
@@_EllieLOL_ Strike anywhere matches are hard to get in most of the US.
Tweakers use them to make meth so they have been banned in many areas.
Thank you Schel.
I heard that the Aussies and New Zealanders made what they called Jam Tin Grenades at Gallipoli. They were tin cans, fuses and pieces of guncotton. After seeing this stuff in action, I can kind of see how.
You can't do this stuff without learning those things as well. Hopefully I'll never have to use my skills for anything other than entertainment and education
Nitrated cotton is pretty much smokeless powder and burns very fast ..... Where black powder smokes a lot and burns a lot slower
ideal for magic shows! this looks really fun. have a great day.
Ladies and gentlemen I present to you all the shade tree chemist.
i actually use gun cotton for cap and ball pistols... works awesome
To Schel and all you commenters, I and several friends first did this 64 years ago, using nitric and sulpheric acid. It takes 15 to 30 minutes, not 24 hours. Heating the raw nitrated cotton in a neutralizing solution for about 15 minutes makes a much better product. Then rinse and dry. Always use safety goggles and gloves, until neutralized. Don't get casual. Stay alive. This isn't baking cookies. NEVER EVER think about reloading ammunition with this raw gun cotton. The burning rate is light years too fast. It will spectacularly burst the chamber, blowing the gun and portions of you apart. The manufacture of safe and stable smokeless powder from nitrocellulose (gun cotton) is a sophisticated and highly technical process which produces many different chemical mixes and grain types for a wide range of burning rates in different firearms. I've been reloading about 50 types of rounds for 60 years, so I know about powder and nitrocellulose. Again, don't try to reload with gun cotton, unless your life insurance is paid up. It harmlessly flashes in the hand, and is great for show-and-tell videos, etc., but when confined in a steel chamber, the burning rate and pressure skyrocket dramatically. We're talking 14,000 to 35,000 pounds per square inch, for the toned down versions, safe for ammunition reloading. What Schel is producing is wa-a-a-ay over that! There is tremendous energy in that seemingly innocent looking tuft of cotton. It only looks harmless.
Yeah I've seen the videos of how it was used in the mining industry. Under compression even giant Boulders don't stand a chance, much less the barrel of a gun
By far the best nitrated cellulose video on the tube
70degs F is around 25-30 degs C
0degs C is freezing point, and 100degs C is boiling point... easy.
97degs F is around 36degs C body temp...
Im too old and too American to learn.
Lol, no probs...
Cool, thanks...
As a trained chemist, I can see this process obviously does work. But, your methods are actually kind of frightening they are in such violation of safe lab practice. No wonder people get hurt messing with this stuff.
Goggles! Latex gloves are practically dirt cheap! Any kind of respirator is better than none! But a $20.00 carbon filtered respirator would be excellent. At the very least, you wore a lab coat- excellent!
Any exothermic reaction process should be thermally controlled, which means at the very least a thermometer should be used to at least have a more actuate control than testing an reaction vessel with your flesh!. Holding the container filled with reacting acid with bare hands is just nuts.
I know you feel comfortable with your back yard process. But, please, showing this to the public is irresponsible with such careless lab practice.
Please, don't take offence that I am being critical. God bless you for an interesting vid. But, think about the inexperienced kids who might be trying to copy your cavalier methods.
Your right, I kinda of play a bit loose with this process because Ive done it so many times. There is an old adage about carpenters "newbies rarely loose fingers with power tools, its the guy with 20 years experience who become complacent that makes the mistake"
At least a rudimentary fume hood is better than nothing and allows you to do the experiment inside in controlled conditions. I work with some nasty stuff that requires a fume hood, would not want to be around that without it... I work with Bromoform for mineral separation, the stuff is supposed to be toxic with vapors that can knock you out and possibly kill you.
You can build a box, and install a kitchen hood with high CFM that blows air from inside the lab to outside (possibly with a good filter too). Have sliding windows to allow you to lower to protect yourself from harmful vapor and splashes.
You can also make a backyard "fume hood" by doing your experiment inside, but at a window. The experiment would be set on the outside of the window and the window lowered halfway to keep fume out. Preferably the kind that pulls up and down (not the side to side kind). I've done some pyro experiments this way. Not the safest but better than being exposed.
this man is not responsible for the choices of others kid or grown
@Australian Pyro he's using sulfuric, not nitric
Australian Pyro :I remember being a kid, I just was told "to be carefull', and that was it.! Yet NOWADAYS, éverybody is waving his fingerlike they're ALL the safety police and they're all out to get a fucking medal for telling people off.!! EXACTLY like thegovern is doing with the people... "Safety is become theNr one priority"... MY ASS.. FUN is STILL MY Priority.! Even are a few mishaps, wounds and scars! Do you think the endless bitching of the govern is changing my mind.? And WHY, do you Sheeple Kéép yapping & repeating all that crap like a bunch of brainwashed morons.?? Sometimes éven turning into TRAITORS, to show HOW "good little sheeple" you all are... How about Minding your OWN BUISNESS.?? Is Thàt so hard to do.?? Cause trust Mé... Your advice isDef NOT Apreciated... I find it annoying AF.!And I'm 54... Think you're Still gonna "change" Mé, into YOU.??
Might i suggest rigging up a five gallon bucket of water, with a siphon running into rinsing container with an outlet and adjusting the flow rate.
It would require less attention and work. You could test the outflow from the rinsing container with litmus paper from time to time....
Thanks for posting this informative video.....
Bad idea. The material needs mechanical washing, the stronger and longer the better.
Thanks for the video, very informative and I had no trouble or at all making my own
Hell yeah man, i appreciate you taking the time to teach but you forgot to tell everyone to make sure you're in appliance with your local laws😁
also im pretty sure you can reuse sulfuric acid (it's a catalyst after all, and doesn't fume) by evaporating it after your nitration, and then all you'll need to replace is your potassium nitrate as it's expended. not totally sure though.
Guess I should have said the 1.800 is specfic gravity of the sulfuric acid.
Temu has these spring loaded egg beaters. I don't know how long they would last around the acid , but they wisk really well with just an up and down motion.
A real mad scientist, with thunder!
Loved the way yo dried it. Important no heat. lol :P good job on the video man.
Yup was out of impatience I came up with that.
dude thank you for your instruction, you're right when I wash it, It's not cold enough, so when I tried again with very cold water, and it's work until the end
once again thank you dude :)
I must be using some high concentration sulfuric acid, it is lab grade. My first 5 rinses foam and fizz like crazy
How was your final product ?
schel sullivan It is high grade stuff. It burns extremely fast.
Fun fact: Once upon a time, billiard balls were made from nitrocellulose and would occasionally explode...
Movie film was also made from nitrocellulose, which is why old movie storage warehouses used to burn down, making many old movies either rare or extinct.
As well as ping-pong balls
Huh. I knew that pig pong balls were once made of it, but I didn't know that billiard balls were too. Learn something new every day.
That's so hot it's cool... or is it so cool it's hot? Either way that's a really great video on making gun cotton. Can't wait for the videos of creative uses for gun cotton.
Thanks for watching!
Great video schel!,thats the fastest guncotten on utube!
Its faster than a lot of chemistry lab preparation videos Ive seen, but wait till Darien chimes in. His is faster!
schel sullivan pyro chem source 3.00 a lb great people
hey schel,,,do you have veg garden? if so,,keep all your waste from making your cotton,,works very well for fertilizer,, just dilute with 20 more gallon of water
Just small herb garden, but sure. The KNO3 I bought came from a fertilizer store.
where are the bolts of lightning behind you ?
Every mad scientist has bolts of lightning 😂
I'd like to have a go at playing with different experiments, except in Australia it's too hard to purchase any chemicals. Keep up the good work mate.
Cheers.........
Very cool and educational thanks man I admit It is very tempting to go to the hardware shop and do a bit of shopping.
Or did I go 24hrs ago 🤨
😁
Cool! Making gun cotton outside in a thunderstorm.
Even cooler!! 😉 I wonder what would happen if it were confined? 🤔
It would explode? If i remember correctly, 4 moles of nitrocellulose produces 29 moles of gas products.
@@witekkiAny mole of Gas has 24 liters
18 degrees celsius, just as long as it is below 19 degrees celsius (you need to control the temp of the thermal reaction !!! AT ALL TIMES !!!), if you can near 0 degrees celsius is the best for the process after the cottons have been saturated (it bonds the chemicals to the fuel molecules strongly). If you can saturate the cotton balls at about 5 minutes after reactions take place when you start the mix between the chemicals is the best (did I mention you need to control the temp !!! AT ALL TIMES !!!. Make the cotton balls very small about the size of marble 1cm in diameter (compressed). And do not store many marble sized balls in the same container after you are done. I like to wrap tin foil around the balls to prevent ignition and wrapping some duck tape around the the ball after wrapped with tin foil makes a very nice cracker.
Bellissimo video, grazie!
Nice touch with the thermal camera
Can i use this guncotton to NC Lacquer mixture?
It dissolves properly in acetone But i've not used the resulting mixture to lacquer any guitars or violins.
ruclips.net/video/A3HaSUHERKg/видео.html
Question: Would this land me in hot water with the ATF? I'm looking at making some for single base smokeless powder, yet everything I can find in 27 CFR Reg. 555 only relates to the commercial manufacture of the stuff.
This is a good question.
I've always complied with the rules and regulations supplied by ATF documents. They are all online. I make tiny amounts, use it all that day, never store or transport.
If I leave this sitting for say around 28 hours will this destroy the batch
You said by a comment or something it eventually breaks down; did you find a way to stabilize it to prevent that happening?
I love experiments and chemistry, good vidoes
your edits, camera choices, and table setup - great job!
Thanks, thats why I wanted to revisit this topic, to upgrade it to my current skill level. Im hoping to get some camera and audio equipment upgrades soon.
In this/your case, i feel indeed much better making my *own* Fahrenheit to C° conversion ! 😂😂😂
playing gunslinger in dnd actually researches guns.
Question. I see you prefer to let the acid and potassium nitrate just set with minimal stirring. I'm wondering what if you just let it be until the reaction was totally complete and allow it to cool down to room temp on its own? Would the resultant solution then be able to be capped and stored for nitrating the cotton balls at a later date?
I was waiting for the big guttural laugh at the end, LOL!
Did you see where Cody's Lab made nitroglycerin? He also made black powder using urine.
Only like 10 times. Hes one of my favorite youtubers.
everyone has!
+Chaos Incarnate I'm pretty sure Cody did a gun cotton video. I think it's called boom shorts. Also nighthawkinlight has some older videos on gun cotton.
With a flashpoint of only 4.4 C (39.9 F) how can you store it? It's warmer than that where you are. Why doesn't it spontaneously ignite?
Because that's a flash point and not an autoignition point. It'll only spontaneously combust if its past the autoignition point or you light it up.
Very informative. Have you ever thought of nitrating your goatee 🤔
kind of random soaks them for 5 minutes and they turn out great. this is an unnecessarily long time to nitrate? also it becomes a crystalized cake and takes way longer to rinse when you leave it that long
Great video sir!
Taking temperature with his bare hands, no need of a thermometer ; very precise, very f.....'n scientific!!!😂😂😂😂
interesting thx fr sharing :)
Thanks for watching!
A good video if your familiar with handling chemicals and highly reactive materials but it reminds me of the expression 'I know enough to be dangerous', which usually means 'I don't know enough to be safe'.
16:43 His fingers look like he just ate cheetos.
Hi
Thanks for The great video! More please💯🤗🇩🇰
take out a loan use pyrex containers. wow putting regular glass at 100 degrees into cold water. PS add a little NaCL to water to lower temp. sorry i used to be a chemist.
Thanks for your advice.
Is There A Survivalist Use For GunCotton In Reloading Ammo? Wasn't This The First Smokeless Gunpowder? What Long Term Storage Of Chemicals.. Thank You.. I Will Investigate.. But I Find So Many Knowledgeable RUclipsrs Out There..
It is a rather involved process to turn guncotton into a usable propellant and also takes a lot of work developing loads using the product. A good history of guncotton or Cordite might provide some useful information.
7:18 am
My question is, does the reaction temperature need to stay below the 70 degree benchmark or only after you place the cotton balls. I'm having a hard time keeping the reaction temp below 70 degrees
High quality great job 👍👍
And yeah I am subscribed to your channel I enjoy watching them I don't have a working dehumidifier to get rid of the moisture in the air I think it is messing up my powder I used all my saw dust up to I guess I am stuck making duds on a good note at least my materials are not to much a few grams of this and that it could be worse 😌
Would using cotton pads, instead of cotton balls, and then shredding them dry, before acidifying and nitrating save the tearing apart of wet cotton balls at the end, as well as simplify drying the separated fibers? I do think that using bicarbonate to neutralize the acid when the cotton is separated like that would make it much easier to rinse out - and then diluting the residual water with alcohol, pressing out the excess, and then air drying it, would speed drying, as well. Alcohol evaporates much faster than water. Just a few thoughts.
The hard cotton is the result of mixing the potassium nitrate with the sulfic acid right? ... you still have lots of potassium hydrogene sulfate in there, that is not desolving very well .?
I'd say so. At least mostly. It is quite soluble in water though, so not that big deal to get rid of it.
In the day this was banned because of spontaneous ignition. This is because cotton is hollow and it holds the acid witch you can't get out. That's way they use cellulose because it get's ride of this problem. YOUR WELLCOME be safe :-)
KS. You seem to have some chemical understanding of this stuff. Okay, we know that heat is a problem........ Any idea what happens if instead of potassium nitrate you used potassium chlorate ( KCIO3)?? Can it be used for making gun cotton or would it generate to much heat in process of curing? When mixed with powdered aluminum it burns like a sparkler but if compressed it can be nasty stuff and detonate. Just curious......
@@glenrye9091 The clo3 is the sibling of chloric acid therefore you're dealing with two different animals. Gun cotton is nitrated and therefore has the (no) nitro group. Potassium chlorate is or has the potential to be extremely dangerous (because of its low reaction temperature) meaning it will give up it's oxygen easily.
Please do some research on kclo3
It has killed and maimed many people. As there are things you can never mix with it. Stay safe
Ok, where did you find that spatula?