Vestas (strike anywhere matches)

[zeocrash]

Ok today i bought my self a pack of swan vestas, for those of you who haven't worked out by now these are strike anywhere matches. now i was wondering to myself, what's in these matches. i know safety matches contain chlorate, ground glass and sulfur in the heads, and phosphorus on the side of the matchbox. but what do strike anywhere matches contain to make then able to be "struck anywhere" please could someone enlighten me.
i did search the forum for vestas, but it yeilded no useful results

[T_Pyro]

"Strike anywhere matches", as they are commonly called, contain antimony sulfide, potassium chlorate, gum, and starch. This particular type of match was called "lucifer", if I remember correctly. Safety matches are "safe" since the phosphorous and chlorate + antimony sulfide are separated from each other- the phosphorous is in the strip on the box, the rest in the match head.

[metafractal]

Phosphorous sequisulphide springs to mind. I think the composition that T_Pyro described for strike anywhere matches is an older one that is not used any more. They go back to the 19th century. While they are 'strike anywhere' in that they do not require any special chemical surface to ignite, they do require sandpaper and a lot of pressure (no striking against your boot like in cowboy movies.) And zeocrash, I think your mistaken that the head of a safety match is a composition of chlorate and sulphur. This would make them prone to spontaneous ignition, especially after they got old. Additionally, the broken glass (or other corse material) is on the striker, not the head.

[alhazred]

I think sulphur still is a common component and also the match heads always contain broken glass or other coarse material. Why should a chlorate/sulphur-mixture ignite spontaneously ?
From traces of acid in the sulphur ? I think it doesn´t matter because of small quantities and low proportion of sulphur in the match composition (less than 10 %).

http://nobel.scas.bcit.ca/resource/glossary/s-z.htm
http://www.pa.msu.edu/~sciencet/ask_st/092596.html
http://www.redheads.com.au/environment.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/classic/A283132

OK, that sites are not very good but don´t find better ones in short time.

[gliper]

Is there anyway to disolve strike anywheres I'v tried water laqer thinner and asitone.