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From: wallis@weitek.UUCP (Bob Wallis)
Newsgroups: sci.misc
Subject: Re: Low yeild explosives and "snappers"
Message-ID: <2631@weitek.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 26-Jun-87 23:18:44 EDT
Article-I.D.: weitek.2631
Posted: Fri Jun 26 23:18:44 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 27-Jun-87 14:07:39 EDT
References: <209@picuxa.UUCP>
Reply-To: wallis@weitek.UUCP (Bob Wallis)
Organization: Weitek Corp. Sunnyvale, Ca
Lines: 24
Keywords: boom

In article <209@picuxa.UUCP> gp@picuxa.UUCP (Greg Pasquariello X1190) writes:
>When I was in college, I used to make a pretty simple explosive using
>ammonium hydroxide, and iodine (I think it was ammonium tri-iodide).
>Anyway, when the resulting powder was dried, it made quite a good
>explosive that was EXTREMELY sensitive to jarring (it made a great
>flytrap).  What I was wondering was, does anyone know if that is the
>same substance used in the commercially available "snappers".  They
>are small bundles of some powder that "snap" when they are thrown against
>something.

I remember when I was a kid (in my pyro phase) getting silver looking things
called "torpedoes" that had little loose BBs inside them that exploded when you
threw them at something.  I believe that both these and the party poppers (that
spew confetti when you yank the string) use silver or mercury fulminate. My
favorite homebrew was lead azide which is trivial to make (that is what was in
those famous bullets designed for sky marshals, also used in the Reagan
assassination attempt). Your iodine stuff is really called nitrogen (tri)
iodide. It is too sensitive to be anything but a laboratory curiosity, but is
well suited for sadistic practical jokes (it works great if you put it under
toilet seats).

Bob Wallis

UUCP {turtlevax,pyramid,cae780,apple,wyse}!weitek!wallis