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Mick
March 22nd, 2002, 08:16 AM
i just got some napathalene, and i was wondering what should it do when you put flame to it?

i assumed that when you put flame to it it would ignite in a big fire ball. however i just tried to light it with my lighter and all it did was melt and turn into a hard pearl colored blob.

it does say it is pure on the container (or close enough to - 99g/kg)

should it not ignite? or have i missed something?
does it need to get hotter to ignite?

anyone got any ideas?

DBSP
March 22nd, 2002, 09:14 AM
You know when making naphtelene fireballs you have naphtalene to create a cloud of finely powdered naphtalene wich then ignites. Naphtlenene isn't flammable itsef but it creates the cloud and then with O2 it formes something flammable.

a_bab
March 22nd, 2002, 09:58 AM
When I was *very* young, I used to play often with naphtalene. It's melting point is about 85 degrees C as I remember. I used to put some naphtalene over the hot residue remained after burning some KNO3/S/whatever mix. It posses the property of sublimation. After I added naphtalene over the hot residues, it turnes into vapors, and at a closer look you can see that the cloud of naphtalene vapors are in fact very small lamellar crystals, so small that it floats in the air.

If you heat the naphtalene in a beaker until it melts, and you have a
piece of glass over the baker as lid, you'll see after a minute lots of rhombic, very thin crystals hanged on the glass.

__________________ _ glass
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ - crystals

It worth a try because it looks very cool. The crystals are glued on the glass very soft, and when you move the glass some crystals will fall.

These crystals are formed when you heat the naphtalene and could be ignited easy. This is the principle of the naphtalene shells.

Mick
March 22nd, 2002, 10:40 AM
ah..i see now, that makes more sense.

i heated up some napathalene on a piece of alfoil, which produced some white vapour, then i lit the vapour - and fhomp! a little fireball.

thanks guys, i have never really looked into using napthalene for anything before...i just spotted it on the supermarket shelf today and thought "hmm...i'm pretty you can use that for something" so i picked it up.

i'll go in search for some things to do with it tomorrow.

CyclonitePyro
March 22nd, 2002, 10:57 AM
Naphthalene is one of the most annoying chemicals I've worked with, because of the smell, I don't mind it so much but my parents do. I purchase mothball flakes and then ball mill them, I can't get the smell out of the rubber container. No matter how many bags I put the nap into the smell comes out, plastic seems like it's not a barrier. But the final effect makes it worth it in salt and pepper fireballs, I would rather use gasoline but when I do it usually leaks a little out the the plastic bag it's in down into the black powder and then the whole device fails.

<small>[ March 22, 2002, 05:25 PM: Message edited by: CyclonitePyro ]</small>

Anthony
March 22nd, 2002, 10:59 AM
I remember the napthelene mothballs I had being able to burn in solid (ball) form, lots of black smoke though.

BTW 99g/kg is only 9.9% - unless you meant 999g/kg?

RTC
March 22nd, 2002, 12:12 PM
I think he just meant 99% pure.

Zambosan
March 22nd, 2002, 04:54 PM
CyclonitePyro: if you purchased Moth Flakes, you don't have naphthalene, you have para-dichlorobenzene. Different compound, similar properties. And I think the fact that they both sublime is what makes them able to permeate most packaging membranes... individual molecules are able to sneak out easier than dust particles.

CyclonitePyro
March 22nd, 2002, 06:24 PM
No, they make naphthalene mothballs in both ball and flake form, I also have saw the para-dichlorobenzene type being sold as well, I made sure I had naphthalene.

Jack Ruby
March 22nd, 2002, 07:13 PM
I have used A Smoke Formula that uses Napthalene.

KClO3-6g
CharCoal-2g
Sugar-2g
Napthalene-2g

It was all milled in a coffee grinder till it was dust. I burnt at about the same speed Pyredex does but put off a lot of thick black Smoke.

Mick
March 23rd, 2002, 08:14 PM
sorry anthony, i did mean 999g/kg - i missed a 9

00Buckshot
March 24th, 2002, 05:04 AM
Sometimes I use nap, but it just stinks so bad.
I mix it in the salt and pepper fashion and put on top of the bp in triangle salutes, and on top of mostly any other bp device.
Nice flame.