          Nitroglycerin Recipe
         ----------------------
             By King Arthur


     Like all chemists I must advise you all to take the greatest care
and caution when you are doing this.  Even if you have made this stuff
before.

     This first article will give you information on making
nitroglyerin, the basic ingredient in a lot of explosives such as
straight dynamites, and geletin dynamites.


Making nitroglycerin

     1. Fill a 75-milliliter beaker to the 13 ml. Level with fuming
        red nitric acid, of 98% pure concentration.

     2. Place the beaker in an ice bath and allow to cool below room
        temp.

     3. After it has cooled, add to it three times the amount of
        fuming sulferic acid (99% h2so4).  In other words, add to the
        now-cool fuming nitric acid 39 ml. Of fuming sulferic acid.
        When mixing any acids, always do it slowly and carefully to
        avoid splattering.

     4. When the two are mixed, lower thier temp. By adding more ice
        to the bath, about 10-15 degrees centigrade. (Use a
        mercury-operated thermometer)

     5. When the acid solution has cooled to the desired temperature,
        it is ready for the glycerin. The glycerin must be added in
        small amounts using a medicine dropper.  (Read this step about
        10 times!)  Glycerin is added slowly and carefully (i mean
        careful!) Until the entire surface of the acid it covered with
        it.

     6. This is a dangerous point since the nitration will take place
        as soon as the glycerin is added. The nitration will produce
        heat, so the solution must be kept below 30 degrees
        centigrade! If the solution should go above 30 degrees,
        immediately dump the solution into the ice bath!  This will
        insure that it does not go off in your face!

     7. For hte first ten minutes of nitration, the mixture should be
        gently stirred.  In a normal reaction the nitroglycerin will
        formas a layer on top of the acid solution, while the sulferic
        acid will absorb the excess water.

     8. After the nitration has taken place, and the nitroglycerin has
        formed on the top of the solution, the entire beaker should be
        transferred slowly and carefully to another beaker of water.
        When this is done the nitroglycerin will settle at the bottem
        so the other acids can be drained away.

     9. After removing as much acid as posible without disturbing the
        nitroglycerin, remove the nitroglycerin with an eyedropper and
        place it in a bicarbonate of soda (sodium bicarbonate in case
        you didn't know) solution.  The sodium is an alkalai and will
        nuetralize much of the acid remaining. This process should be
        repeated as much as necesarry using blue litmus paper to check
        for the presence of acid.  The remaining acid only makes the
        nitroglycerin more unstable than it already is.

     10. Finally! The final step is to remove the nitroglycerin from
         the bicarbonate.  His is done with and eye- dropper, slowly
         and carefully.  The usual test to see if nitration has been
         successful is to place one drop of the nitroglycerin on metal
         and ignite it.  If it is true nitroglycerin it will burn with
         a clear blue flame.

** Caution **
nitro is very sensative to decomposition, heating dropping, or
jarring, and may explode if left undisturbed and cool.
