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Prisoner Cell Block H (Making Gunpowder Inside A Cell)

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Anonymous

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I seem to remember reading somewhere that it's possible to make gunpowder using only the ingredients available in your average prison cell or dungeon. I can't remember the specifics but I think it involved getting phosphorus from wall slime and something else from the cement (as you may be able to tell, i'm no scientist) Does anyone know if this is possible, and if so, should we be worried about any practically minded young scientists currently paying their debt to society?
 
Well gunpowders made of carbon, sulphur and saltpetre (potassium nitrate). I seem to remember reading that you could scrape one of the later two off a cell wall but I think it was refering to a medievel dungeon type affair rather than wormwood scrubs.
 
Pow!

After having googling for this, I expect the men from the guv'mnt to be around soon. I may be gone some time.

Jane.
 
Just tell them you are trying to light your bbq. lol
 
That would also explain any bottles of liquid oxygen you might have lying around. (Can't remember the link to that site.)

You can get phosphorous from detergents (laundry powder, bathroom cleaner, etc), but I suspect these things are controlled by the authorities for that reason. (Or they may only use detergents that don't have any phosphorous in them.)

I thought this thread was going to be a review of the Australian soap-opera.
 
you get it from chemical fertiliser, the sale of which is restricted, especially in NI IIRC.
 
I was thinking in terms of where you could get it in a prison. I doubt (or is that "hope") that phosphate fertiliser isn't used in prisons. In terms of dollar value, though, it is a cheaper way of getting your phosphorous.

I can't remember what else you need, either. (If you've got Ammonia fertiliser, you just need diesel, but I can't remember what you use with phosphates.)

What's that officer? No, it's a recipe book for disorganised people.
 
anome said:
I thought this thread was going to be a review of the Australian soap-opera.
Glad I wasn't the only one! :eek:
#He used to give me roses.... lol *watch those walls wobble*
 
I should probably make it clear at this point that I wasn't trying to find a formula for explosives. It was simply a question that was at the back of my mind having half remembered some part of a book. I was curious to know if it was possible rather than wanting to know the way to do it.
 
You can extract potassium nitrate from soil. All you do is put a load of mud in a sock, let it soak in a pan of boiling water. Then squeeze all the water out of the sock. If you then boil off this water, you get small potassium nitrate crystals forming. The only problem is that the yield of crystals is very low when you consider how much water has to be boiled.

Heh, we got taught this in sixth form. They also taught us how to make thermite and nitroglycerine!!!!! :) The crazy WJEC curriculum of 1993....
 
As I understand it gunpowder consists of an oxidiser, fuel, and binders and is just a mixture of sulphur, charcoal, and saltpetre (potassium nitrate), ingredients that are all fairly easy to obtain.

The chemical formula for gunpowder is 10% Sulphur (S) + 15% Carbon (C) + 75% Potassium Nitrate (KNO3).

Therefore it is possible that you can produce gunpowder by refining ground bones, salt, charcoal and animal dung together and prepare it in much the same way as Snowman X mentioned above.

I.e. Grind, process and mix all the Ingredients together. Slowly soak the ingredients in a pan of boiling water for a few days. Then strain the liquid through a fine gauze and boil the liquid off, let the residue dry and you should have gunpowder.
 
It was possible to make a small quantity of explosives out of a pack of cards, until they began using plastic.
 
I believe you can get one of the main ingredients (salt-petre ?) from the powder left from dried urine or something.
 
It was possible to make a small quantity of explosives out of a pack of cards, until they began using plastic.
Nitro-cellulose or similar I expect. In the days when actual movie film was mostly that, enterprising (and bad) folk used to cut in into tiny pieces and load cartridges with it.
 
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