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Nitro?
spurgemastur
Member Posts: 5,655 ✭✭
What is nitro in the context of bullet propellants?
is it nitrocellulose? (my best guess).
is it nitroglycerine? (I don't think that comes in a solid at normal temps).
is it something else? (entirely possible)
Info appreciated.
is it nitrocellulose? (my best guess).
is it nitroglycerine? (I don't think that comes in a solid at normal temps).
is it something else? (entirely possible)
Info appreciated.
Comments
It ain't your daddies sulfer, saltpeter, and charcoal anymore![:p]
I'm sure someone will come along with the chemical formulae and tell you the specific gravity and such, but you have the basic idea.
With a tip of the ole brain pan warmer to Alfred Nobel![8D]
You guess pretty well. Gun cotton. Cellulose impregnated with nitroglycerine. Lots of different things were tried, wood shavings, etc.
It ain't your daddies sulfer, saltpeter, and charcoal anymore![:p]
I'm sure someone will come along with the chemical formulae and tell you the specific gravity and such, but you have the basic idea.
Geez, I hate to be a *, but cellulose impregnated with nitroglycerine is quite different from nitrocellulose. Old movies were projected from nitrocellulose film....which is why so few of them survive: the medium was explosive.
Anyway: you're suggesting that it is a cellulose substrate that is impregnated with a nitroglycerin catalyst. That sounds plausible.
Further input is still appreciated.
Single base powders are made from Nitrocellulose to this day.
Double-base powders usually contain Nitrocellulose and Nitroglycerine.
Nitroglycerine is different from Nitrocellulose and contains enormous ammounts of Oxygen. Nitroglycerine soaked in porous materials is the basis for Dynamite.
Understanding Firearms Ballistics 6th ed. Excellent book for all interest levels.
(Yes, I did just re-read this.)
Nitrocellulose - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Address:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrocellulose Changed:5:56 AM on Monday, October 30, 2006
Can't bear to mislead you.
Nitrocellulose - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Address:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrocellulose Changed:5:56 AM on Monday, October 30, 2006
Actually, your posts were pretty close to the money considering you pulled it out of your head rather than some egg-headed reference book[:D]
The word "Nitro" was first used around the turn of the century by English gunmakers as a name for the new cartridges they were loading with the then new smokeless powder, Cordite. Cordite was a double based powder made of Nitrocellulose and Nitroglycerin, so the gunmakers, mainly John Rigby & Co., began using "Nitro Express" in relation to these cartridges. "Nitro" referred to the 2 components making up Cordite.
Now you're talking, Head.
I think the original dynamite used nitroglycerine mixed with bituminous earth.
True.
The same earth that's now used for kitty litter!.
What about those nitorglycerine heart attack pills, is that the same kind of nitroglycerine? How much? How come old folks dont explode? Can explosive nitroglycerine be extracted from those pills?
here's another question for you chemistry types...
What about those nitorglycerine heart attack pills, is that the same kind of nitroglycerine? How much? How come old folks dont explode? Can explosive nitroglycerine be extracted from those pills?
nitroglycerin is set off by shock. I've never tried it but I've heard that if you threw the pills on the ground they will pop.
The nitroglycerin has a gentle ride down to the GI tracts and is then absorbed into the body, it simply does not have the opportunity to go off. Even if it did explode I think that the amount is too low to cause much damage.
Just saying "nitro" isn't sufficient to refer to the ingredients of a propellant. It is either or both nitroglycerin or nitrocellulose.
Nitro is a chemical radical composed of one nitrogen atom and two oxygen atoms thus -RNO2. There are many nitro compounds like nitrobenzene, nitromethane, or trinitroresorcinol (styphnic acid which is the stuff priming compound is made after leading).
Yes Spurgemastur was correct nitrocellulose was used to make film.
Here is the nitrocellulose that is used for film from the same Wikpiedia link provided by p3skyking.
Nitrate Film
Nitrocellulose was used as the first flexible film base, beginning with Eastman Kodak products in August, 1889. Camphor is used as plasticizer for nitrocellulose film. It was used until 1933 for X-ray films (where its flammability hazard was most acute) and for motion picture film until 1951. It was replaced by safety film with an acetate base.
The use of nitrocellulose film for motion pictures led to a widespread requirement for fireproof projection rooms with wall coverings made of asbestos. Famously, the US Navy shot a training film for projectionists which included footage of a controlled ignition of a reel of nitrate film which continued to burn even when fully submerged in water. Due to public safety precautions, the London Underground forbade transport of nitrate films on its system until well past the introduction of safety film. A cinema fire caused by ignition of nitrocellulose film stock (foreshadowed by an earlier small fire) was a central plot element in the Italian film Cinema Paradiso. Today nitrate film projection is usually highly regulated and requires extensive precautionary measures including extra projectionist health and safety training. Additionally, projectors certified to run nitrate films have many containment strategies in effect. Among them, this includes the chambering of both the feed and takeup reels in thick metal covers with small slits to allow the film to run through. Furthermore, the projector is modified to accommodate several fire extinguishers with nozzles all aimed directly at the film gate; the extinguishers automatically trigger if a piece of flammable fabric placed near the gate starts to burn. While this triggering would likely damage or destroy a significant portion of the projection components, it would prevent a devastating fire which almost certainly would cause far greater damage.
It was discovered decades later that nitrocellulose gradually decomposes, releasing nitric acid which further catalyses the decomposition (usually into a still-flammable powder or goo). Low temperatures can delay these reactions indefinitely. It is estimated that the great majority of films produced during the early twentieth century were lost forever either through this accelerating, self-catalysed disintegration or studio warehouse fires. Salvaging old films is a major problem for film archivists (see film preservation).
Nitrocellulose film base manufactured by Kodak can be identified by the presence of the word Nitrate in dark letters between the perforations. Acetate film manufactured during the era when nitrate films were still in use was marked Safety or Safety Film between the perforations dark letters. Letters in white or light colors are print-through from the negative.
Color negative film was never manufactured with a nitrate base, nor were 8 mm or 16 mm motion picture film stocks.
Regards,
Heavyiron