In response to TINF's 'smoke grenade'

[NoltaiR]

Why did the topic close?

Anyways I have some info I would like to put forth on the idea of KNO3/sugar...

When I was 10 or 11 years old (and thought the cookbooks were the encyclopedias of explosives.. more than likely because they were the easiest to get a hold of) I came across a 'recipe' for a smoke bomb in one of the cookbooks (probably plaguarized from the improvised munitions handbook) that said to mix 6 parts KNO3 with 4 parts sugar, let it melt on low heat, pour into container and insert matches as fuses. I tried this little 'experiment' and here are my findings (from what I can remember):

I mixed the 6:4 in an aluminum pie pan and set it on the stove at low heat... well after about 5 minutes of waiting I became impatient because it just wouldn't melt. Well considering that I was in my kitchen with the sink right behind me, I got a few tablespoons of water and added it to the mixture.. it turned to a white paste which I thought looked 'melted' enough...hehe

I poured my mixture (approx. 3 pounds in weight) into a glass jar and inserted the matches. By the time it I got outside and into an open area (my property is about 20 acres so the walk to a big open area was about 3 minutes from my kitchen) the paste had completely solidified and it was rock hard. I ignited the matches and stood back, the smoke was quite impressive and it blew the jar to pieces.


My conclusions/suggestions:
In a grenade form, you would need a time fuse that was quite large (seeing as how I need about 8 matches). 'Candy propellant' is a rocket propellant made from 74.5% KNO3 and 25.5% sugar (you don't have to be that accurate, but mathematically that makes for complete combustion).

[ January 10, 2002: Message edited by: NoltaiR ]</p>

[J]

The reason the other topic was closed is that KNO3/Sugar smoke bombs have been discussed many times in the past. There's no need to bring up the topic again unless you have something new to add.

J

[nbk2000]

Here's another newbie NO-NO:

"Why was my/their topic closed?"

If a topic is closed it's usually for one of the following reasons:

1. It's degenerated into a pointless flame war, or a chat rooom.

2. It's a subject that has been discussed to death in a million prior postings. This is the catagory the "KNO3/Sugar Smoke Grenade" topic is in. We're trying to advance a little, not regress to shit that's already been discussed and solved years ago. Read the '99 archives, you'll find plenty of KNO3/sugar posts to read there.

3. Pathetically kewl. Anything involving peanut butter and ajax C10 plastique would fit in this catagory.

4. It's a whiny plea. "Will anyone help me with my super-JIFF C10?! PLEASE!?" This was also one of TNIFs sins.

5. Deemed worthless for any number of other reasons. We don't lock threads because we feel like it, it's always for a reason.

If you REALLY think the thread should be open, you can always e-mail Mega and explain to him why you believe it should be, but don't be surprised if you try to log in later and find that you've been deleted.

To date, Mega has NEVER reversed one of the mods decisions to lock a thread. But he has deleted plenty of kewls who annoyed him with whiny pleas to reopen their pathetic topics.

It's your choice.