General Chat

This is not the only site where I cause controversy.


Last night, firework night, I posted on one of the FB nostalgia site, saying that I was probably a bit late in offering but I had a children's encyclopaedia from my youth that contained a recipe for gunpowder and instruction for making it into fireworks.

This was done to illustrate what dangerous information and substances we had access to. After all, the site had already discussed how little children could buy fireworks and cigarettes and cigarettes with ease and the gunpowder ingredients are largely not available now anyway.

Nobody picked up on that and I had a whole stream of postings about how irresponsible I was and wasn't I afraid that the police would be round.

Knee jerk at its finest!

P.S. Anybody want a recipe for gunpowder?

It is the times we live in Sharron.

Knee jerk or not, you should take the warning about police seriously.

A chap near us was carted off and held overnight after his door was broken down by police at dawn, house was taped off, with hazmat guys searching the whole premises because he ordered something online for use in engineering that 'could' be used for bombs.

It is as Ann says, the times we live in.

In order to make gunpowder in a traditional kind of way start with a reliable supply of piss. After that the BBC will help with some they made earlier.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b088s45m
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFygi6wyDGQ

Anybody who has got some sort of grade in A level chemistry and physics could, if they so wished, make any kind of destructive device. Luckily most don't.
Most houses have the essentials for producing something bad.

One in a thousand plods have good practical science know how . Thus, encouraged by mums net, I guess we can look forward to a burning of the science books, arrests of technicians and the further retreat of the UK into Noddy land.

Science is always two edged - the same technology that rained down rockets on London in 1945 also took men to the moon. What is known is known and cannot be unknown.

Years ago when we had an open fire i would often restart the fire by putting icing sugar on the embers, that could be explosive.

Indeed

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/206884176606885489/?lp=true

My neighbour and his mate blew up the phone box with a home-made bomb. I think it was something involving fertilizer and it was nearly fifty years ago now.

I have a set of books that were bought from a man who was selling them door to door in the fifties. There are three red ones called 'The World of the Children' and I think the recipe is in one of these. If it is not, it is in one of the tree green ones called 'Junior Science' which show you the basic stuff like how a jet engine works!

The other two are 'Funk and Wagnell' dictionaries. We never use a dictionary at home, we always use the Funkanwagnell.

I remember The World of the Children. There were some interesting features, but as I recall the books were written in story form, so it was difficult to actually look up particular information.
I don't remember scientific recipes, but that's not to say it wasn't there.

It was a long time ago.

Sulpher and saltpetre, bought from the local chemist. The addition of iron filings made sparklers. I don't know where kids would buy the stuff now.

You can't even get chemistry sets now and weren't they fun?

Encyclopeadia Brittannicae taught me all I needed to know.....70 years ago!!

I always read the Beano very carefully. That was about the extent of my learning.

You can most certainly get chemistry sets.

Can you?

That does surprise me.

In the Star Trek episode "Arena", Kirk has to make gunpowder and the ingredients are quite clearly named (and readily available on that planet).

Last time I was in the chemist, I asked for a large bottle of glycerine as I had a bad chesty cough. If you put 2 teaspoons in a cup with fresh lemon juice, honey and boiling water, it makes a soothing drink. The glycerine is great for breaking up the yukky stuff.

The pharmacist asked me what I wanted the glycerine for? Surprised I said "to make a soothing drink for my cough", What else would I do with it?
He leant close and whispered, "well some might make a bomb with that stuff.!"

I laughed and said, "really?" I know the man well so wasn't offended by him asking. But wasn't ready for his answer.

I suppose if glycerine can destroy and blast away a bad chest infection, in the wrong hands, I guess it could be lethal!

When I was young we had chemistry sets and I have seen them still available to buy somewhere on line.

Florence in the hebrides

You didn't ask for nitro-glycerine did you?

think you would need a steady hand to take that!!

Lol nooo I didn't! :-D :-D :-D

Isn't nitroglycerin used for treating heart attacks?