Posted by Tom Napier on September 17, 2011 at 14:51:01 user Didymus.
In Reply to: Re: Ransome inspired posted by John Nichols on September 17, 2011 at 13:24:56:
That's interesting. I had never heard of ammonium/nitrogen iodide referred to as "touch powder". In my universe, touch powder is the fine-grained gunpowder that is placed in the touch-hole of a cannon to fire the charge.
Time to come clean. I never had much success with traditional gunpowder. (As used by Captain Flint and Slater Bob, not to mention the fireworks on the houseboat roof, must establish a Ransome connection somehow.) I did make very successful bombs and rockets with a common weedkiller mixed with sugar. (Don't try this at home!)
In the mid-1950s a misguided relative gave me a book of home chemistry experiments that included the recipe for nitrogen iodide. I made some and scattered it around the front of the maths classroom, resulting in small bangs everywhere the teacher walked.
Amazingly I escaped major punishment. The chemistry book was confiscated (I still have it) and I got into a row because I had inspired others with less explosives-handling experience to make their own nitrogen iodide and risk hurting themselves.
Fellow Tarboarders may not be entirely surprised that these days I occasionally lecture on how to build atom bombs, although with the intention of showing that terrorists with less than nation-state facilities are unlikely to be able to do so.