LOL

all jokes aside, though, that's actually an interesting idea.  if it were
possible to keep the N and glycerine separate, and inject them into the cylinder
where they would combine, then explode. . . .

of course, there's the question of how energy efficient this would be (i'm
assuming it would be pretty efficient since nitroglycerine is so extremely
explosive). and what emissions would be like. and whether creating nitroglycerine
is as easy and simple as that in the first place.

It's easy to create but it's almost impossible to control. I really, really hope this discussion is going to remain entirely hypothetical!!!

There must be a safe way to use nitroglycerin.

Only in the form of dynamite it seems. Safe as dynamite, LOL!

High-explosives

The most earth-shattering use of glycerine remains that discovered by Italian chemist Ascanio Sobrero 150 years ago when he subjected it to nitration to make the world's first real high-explosive, nitroglycerin, one of the most dangerous substances ever concocted.

Sobrero's face was badly scarred in an explosion during an early experiment. He said nitroglycerin was so dangerous it was useless, and it had killed so many people he was ashamed to be its discoverer.

But Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel set about mass-producing the stuff, in spite of several explosions -- one of which killed his brother. Nobel discovered that nitroglycerin could be mixed with silica (diatomaceous earth) to form a stable high-explosive which he called dynamite. It made him one of the richest men of the age.

Nitroglycerin is extremely powerful. A mere 10 ml will expand 10,000 times into 100 litres of gas at an explosive velocity of 7,700 metres per second (17,224 miles per hour) -- more powerful than TNT.

It's easy to find recipes for nitroglycerin. You mix deadly compounds like sulphuric acid and nitric acid with the glycerine and unless you can control the following runaway reaction it explodes in your face. Most formulas carry warnings like these:

"Caution: Nitroglycerin is extremely sensitive to decomposition, heating, dropping, or jarring, and may explode even if left undisturbed and cool."

"Caution: Nitroglycerin has the capacity to sense when a stupid or clumsy person is around and, if given a chance, it will try to kill him."

"Caution: This formula assumes that the maker has no qualms about killing his/her self in the process."

These cautions are VERY well-founded!

Every now and then newspapers rediscover these "resources" on the World Wide Web and set up a hue-and-cry for Internet censorship, claiming it promotes terrorism, but any terrorist worth his Semtex knows better than these amateurish offerings.

Anyway these things have been around much longer than the Internet. We found a nitroglycerin recipe in a general how-to book published more than a century ago, along with a dozen other explosives, including dynamite. Did Civilization-As-We-Know-It survive? It's hard to tell!

-- From: Glycerine
http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_glycerin.html

Best wishes for a long, safe, happy and intact future.

Keith



-chris

In a message dated 7/17/05 2:46:35 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

<< How about combining the glycerin with nitrogen to create nitroglycerin?

I know, nitrogen is explosive but so is hydrogen.  The engines in our

vehicles are using what is called "explosion propulsion".  Exploding

fuel  pushes against pistons which are linked to a shaft, which is

linked to the transmission.  There must be a safe way to use nitroglycerin.


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