How to make explosives

How C-4 Works

Twenty years ago, most people didn’t have any idea what C-4 was. Recently, it has become an all-too-familiar term, popping up in newspapers and on television all the time. In October 2000, terrorists used C-4 to attack the U.S.S. Cole, killing 17 sailors. In 1996, terrorists used C-4 to blow up the Khobar Towers U.S. military housing complex in Saudi Arabia. In December 2001, a man smuggled similar material, hidden in his shoes, onto a commercial airliner. C-4 has also been used in many of the Palestinian suicide bombings in Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories.

In this article, we’ll find out what this powerful material is and see how it can wreak such destruction.

The fundamental concept behind explosives is very simple. At the most basic level, an explosive is just something that burns or decomposes very quickly, producing a lot of heat and gas in a short amount of time.

A typical explosive consists of some explosive material, some sort of detonation device and, typically, some sort of housing. The explosive material undergoes a rapid chemical reaction, either a combustion or decomposition reaction, when triggered by heat or shock energy from the detonator.

­In the chemical reaction, compounds break down to form various gases. The reactants (the original chemical compounds) have a lot of energy stored up as chemical bonds between different atoms. When the compound molecules break apart, the products (the resulting gases) may use some of this energy to form new bonds, but not all of it. Most of the «leftover» energy takes the form of extreme heat.

The concentrated gases are under very high pressure, so they expand rapidly. The heat speeds up the individual gas particles, boosting the pressure even higher. In a high explosive, the gas pressure is strong enough to destroy structures and injure and kill people. If the gas expands faster than the speed of sound, it generates a powerful shock wave. The pressure can also push pieces of solid material outward at great speed, causing them to hit people or structures with a lot of force.

C-4 is a high explosive designed for military use. In the next section, we’ll find out what sets it apart from other explosives.

In low explosives, such as the propellant in a bullet cartridge, the reaction occurs relatively slowly and the pressure isn’t as damaging. The expanding gases only serve to push a small object. High explosives, such as C-4 and TNT, expand more rapidly, generating much greater pressure. Explosives experts refer to rapid explosive reactions as detonation and slower explosive reactions as deflagration.

C-4, or composition 4, is one variety of plastic explosive. The basic idea of plastic explosives, also called plastic bonded explosives (PBX), is to combine explosive chemicals with a plastic binder material. The binder has two important jobs:

The explosive material in C-4 is cyclotrimethylene-trinitramine (C3H6N6O6), commonly called RDX (which stands for «royal demolition explosive» or «research development explosive»). The additive material is made up of polyisobutylene, the binder, and di(2-ethylhexyl) sebacate, the plasticizer (the element that makes the material malleable). It also contains a small amount of motor oil and some 2, 3-dimethyl-2, 3-dinitrobutane (DMDNB), which functions as a chemical marker for security forces.

To make C-4 blocks, explosives manufacturers take RDX in powder form and mix it with water to form a slurry. They then add the binder material, dissolved in a solvent, and mix the materials with an agitator. They remove the solvent through distillation, and remove the water through drying and filtering. The result is a relatively stable, solid explosive with a consistency similar to modelling clay.

Just as with other explosives, you need to apply some energy to C-4 to kick off the chemical reaction. Because of the stabilizer elements, it takes a considerable shock to set off this reaction; lighting the C-4 with a match will just make it burn slowly, like a piece of wood (in Vietnam, soldiers actually burned C-4 as an improvised cooking fire). Even shooting the explosive with a rifle won’t trigger the reaction. Only a detonator, or blasting cap will do the job properly.

A detonator is just a smaller explosive that’s relatively easy to set off. An electrical detonator, for example, uses a brief charge to set off a small amount of explosive material. When somebody triggers the detonator (by transmitting the charge through detonator cord to a blasting cap, for example), the explosion applies a powerful shock that triggers the C-4 explosive material.

A small amount of C-4 packs a pretty big punch. Less than a pound of C-4 could potentially kill several people, and several military issue M112 blocks of C-4, weighing about 1.25 pounds (half a kilogram) each, could potentially demolish a truck. Demolition experts typically use a good amount of C-4 in order to do a job properly. To take out one 8-inch (20.3-centimeter) square steel beam, for example, they would probably use 8 to 10 pounds (3.6 to 4.5 kilograms) of C-4.

Unfortunately, C-4 will keep making headlines for years to come. Because of its stability and sheer destructive power, C-4 has attracted the attention of terrorists and guerilla fighters all over the world. A small amount of C-4 can do a lot of damage, and it’s fairly easy to smuggle the explosive past light security forces. The U.S. military is the primary manufacturer of C-4, and it tightly guards its supply, but there are a number of other sources for similar explosive material (including Iran, which has a history of conflict with the United States). As long as it is readily accessible, C-4 will continue to be a primary weapon in the terrorist arsenal.

For more information on C-4 and other explosives, check out the links on the next page.

Spice Rack Explosives : How to Make Gunpowder with Salt & Sugar

The best chemistry experiments are those you can perform with items already laying around your house. With only some sugar, salt substitute and an instant cold pack, you can make your very own gunpowder! Being able to make homemade gunpowder without a trip to the store can be a lifesaver, no matter if it’s just for testing out a Civil War-era musket, blowing up stubborn tree stumps, or preparing for battle when imperialists overrun your country.

Materials

You might already have these chemicals in your cabinets or drawers.

Step 1: Open Cold Pack

Cut off the top of your cold pack with scissors. Inside will be a packet of water surrounded by ammonium nitrate crystals. Only use packets clearly labeled as containing ammonium nitrate. Urea is a common substitute for ammonium nitrate in cold packs. Do not use urea.

Avoid cutting through the middle to keep from puncturing the bag of water inside.

Make sure your cold pack contains ammonium nitrate and not urea.

Cold packs demystified! It’s just a bag of water surrounded by ammonium nitrate crystals.

Step 2: Weigh Your Chemicals

Using a digital scale, weigh out 40 grams of ammonium nitrate and 37 grams of salt substitute. If you are like me and do not own a scale, you can make a simple balance beam using a lighter as a fulcrum and a ruler as the beam. I taped some component drawers to the ruler equidistant from the center marking to ensure they would exert equal force. Do your best to center the ruler.

My salt substitute came in an 88.5 gram bottle. I poured half of the bottle on each side of the balance beam so that I had two equal measurements of 44.25 grams. I then dumped out one of these and replaced the salt with the ammonium nitrate until I had a total of 44.25 grams for both substances. This is close enough for our purposes. Any excess of either chemical will simply not dissolve into our solution. The experiment will not be noticeably affected.

Above, 44.25 grams of salt in each container.

Above, 44.25 grams of ammonium nitrate.

Step 3: Dissolve Ammonium Nitrate in Water

Mix the measured ammonium nitrate into 100ml of water. If you don’t have a graduated cylinder, it’s easy to approximate using empty drink bottles. I filled a 500ml water bottle approximately 20% with water and used that. Stir the solution until the ammonium nitrate is completely dissolved. It’s okay if the water is cloudy, as long as there are no solid pieces.

The compulsive modernist urge to quantify and commodify means we can make lab instruments from trash.

Still cloudy, but it’s okay as long as none of the beads remain at the bottom.

Step 4: Add Solution to Salt Substitute

Pour your ammonium nitrate solution through a coffee filter directly into a container of salt substitute. Glass is always the best container material. I used a glass Pepsi bottle and an oil funnel. If you can’t do it from junk, it’s not worth doing.

Remember to add the salt substitute before pouring in the solution.

Coffee filters get any unwanted solids out of the solution.

Step 5: Dissolve the Salt

Gently heat, but do not boil, your mixture while continuously stirring. A few minutes is all it takes for the solution to become noticeably clear with no particles remaining.

It is best to avoid using cookware when performing chemistry experiments.

Everything is nice and dissolved!

Step 6: Chill

Place your fully mixed solution in the freezer for anywhere between a half-hour and two hours. Crystals will form on the bottom of the container. These crystals are potassium nitrate or saltpeter, the key ingredient in gunpowder. This is also available commercially as stump remover from your local hardware store. It is cheaper to buy stump remover, but in an emergency, using the cold pack is infinitely more James Bond.

Place the container so that it will not tip over.

Crystals hiding beneath the liquid.

Step 7: Crush Your Potassium Nitrate

Pour out the remaining liquid in the container without pouring out your crystals. Wait until the crystals have dried. Even though they look like rocks, in reality, they have the consistency of slush. Let the open container sit in a well-ventilated area. When dry, crush the crystals into a very fine powder. The chances of igniting the saltpeter are very low, but for safety’s sake, this is best done in a non-metal container.

This is what your crystals should look like when you pour out the liquid:

Step 8: Add Sugar

Mix together one-part saltpeter with one-part powdered sugar. This will give you a crude form of gunpowder. Real gunpowder contains saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal. However, this home recipe should be more than enough for all your pyromaniacal needs.

Saltpeter on the left, sugar on the right:

A well mixed flammable powder is a happy flammable powder.

Step 9: Test

Take a small spoonful of your gunpowder and place it on a nonflammable surface outdoors away from sentient creatures and trees. Light using a long match and revel in the power now at your command!

In making saltpeter, we combined ammonium nitrate from the cold pack with potassium chloride from the salt substitute. Chemically, the equation looks like this:

Essentially, what we are doing is switching around the compound words in the chemicals. We are inducing the two chemicals to exchange ions so that ammonium nitrate and potassium chloride become potassium nitrate and ammonium chloride. The potassium nitrate crystallizes while the ammonium chloride remains a liquid.

Try making a trail of gunpowder like in the cartoons. What kind of cool designs can you make? If you do this experiment at home, show it off!

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40 Comments

The scale was a good idea. I may make a modified version myself for demonstration purposes. While the experiment itself certainly isn’t a refined way to manufacture high quality black powder, it’s a good demonstration in basic chemistry.

Thanks Ben! I agree it is not high quality black powder, but It is much easier to make. I’m glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for joining the Mad Science World!

This is a bit misleading. I thought it would show how to make actual gunpowder with Charcoal and Sulfur. Great tutorial other than that! 🙂

Sorry to disappoint! There are lots of gunpowder tutorials on wonderhowto you can check out though.

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How to make explosive (PETN) (for industrial purposes)

Explosives are materials (chemicals/nuclear ) that can be initiated to undergo very rapid self-propagating decomposition that results in the formation of more stable materials with liberation of heat and large amount of gases. This heat can be tapped and use in industrial applications e.g generation of s team that can be used to turn turbines which can either generates electricity or do some mechanical works (in machines like mills e.t.c).

Pentaerythritoltetranitrate is one of secondary explosives. It is an explosive booster/high explosive. Explosive boosters are made of materials which are insensitive to mechanical shocks and flames but explode with great violence when set off by explosive shock. The explosion is achieved by detonating small amount of primary explosives in contact with high explosives like lead azide and lead styphnate which are highly susceptible to initiation.

Pentaerythritoltetranitrate can be synthesized from methanal/formaldehyde (CH₂O) and acetaldehyde (CH₃CHO) through crossed Aldol condensation. The product of (pentaerythritol) is then reacted with concentrated nitric acid to yield pentaerythritoltetranitrate. Aldol condensation is a condensation in which two aldehydes or ketones combined to form beta-hydroxyaldehye or beta-bydroxyketone in the presence of a base. On the other hand, crossed Aldol condensation is a Aldol condensation where different aldehydes or ketones with active alpha-hydrogen react to form beta-hydroxyaldehyde and beta-hydroxyaldehyde ketone respectively. This initial reaction of synthesis of pentaerythritoltetranitrate takes place between aldehyde (formaldehyde) which lack active hydrogen but has carbonyl group which is more reactive to nucleophile addition than carbonyl group in acetaldehyde. The reactions that occur are as follows:

The trihydric alcohol then undergoes canizzaro reaction with one mole of formaldehyde in the present of strong base (NaOH) to form pentaerythritol and formic acid. Canizzaro reaction is a chemical reaction that involves the base-induced disproportionation of aldehyde lacking hydrogen in the alpha position (alpha carbon position). The reaction is as follows:

The reaction involves nucleophile substitution on aldehyde with a leaving group concurrently attacking another aldehyde. Hydroxide attacks carbonyl hence resulting in tetrahedral intermediate which then collapses and reform the carbonyl and in the process transferring hydride to another carbonyl. Lastly, the acid and alkoxide formed exchange a proton in the presence of strong base (NaOH). Initially aldehyde forms a doubly charged anion from which a hydride is transferred to the second molecule of aldehyde to form carboxylate and alkoxide ion. The alkoxide ion abstracts a proton from solvent forming pentaerythritol.

Pentaerythritol is then reacted with concentrated nitric acid to form pentaerythritoltetranitrate(PETN)- explosive and water (H₂O). The reaction is as shown below:

C (CH2OH)₄(pentaerythitol)(aqueous) + 4HNO₃(concentrated nitric acid)(liquid) = C(CH₂ONO₂)₄ (PETN)(Precipitate) + 4H2O(water) (aqueous)

The precipitate can then be recrystallized with acetone to give the final crystals (PETN). When PETN is initiated it decomposes as shown below:

How to make C4 with RDX Explosives

In this article we’ll review how to make C4 with RDX, RDX is the primary ingredient for making C4. RDX (Cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine) is a nitroamine (organic) high explosive. In its purest state, RDX is a white, crystalline solid, and when mixed with plasticizers and other ingredients it makes C4. RDX can be stably stored and is considered one of the most powerful explosives used by the military. One of the most alluring factors presented by RDX for military application is RDX requires a detonator, is resistant to detonation by small arms fire, and is 1.5 times more powerful than TNT (Trinitrotoluene).

A word of caution to all our readers, every article published by allselfsustained contributors is either from personal experience or extensive research, and we make every effort to ensure each article is factually sound. Do not assume reading one How to Make C4 article qualifies you to start Breaking Bad in your kitchen with Skyler White’s cake mixer. In fact, if you try to make this stuff in the presence of government, you’ll end up in federal prison…

Is C4 illegal?

Whether or not C4 is illegal is totally dependent upon the stated purpose of its use by you. If you want to tell the government you need C4 to protect your fortified prepper bunker in preparation for the apocalypse, they’ll say no. To legally own C4 you will need a Destructive Device Permit (kind of like an NFA regulated firearm permit), and it must be approved by the BATFE (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives), and your County Sheriff’s office. For all intents and purposes, other than commercial, it is illegal for you to own C4. You have been warned…do not make this shit until after SHTF.

High Order Explosives

High order explosives are pretty easy to make when used with a basic understanding in chemistry, aside from the nitric acid used in high explosives. High explosives generally detonate because their molecular structure is made with fuel and three or more nitrogen dioxide molecules e.g. TNT (trinitrotoluene) – when a shock passes through a trinitrotoluene molecule the NO2 bond is broken, and oxygen combines with fuel.

How to Make C4 with RDX

Unlike other high explosives you can make RDX with this simple method, with the exception of the ammonium nitrate. All necessary precautions should be taken to prevent injury or death. Below I’ll list the equipment and materials you’ll need to make RDX.

Equipment needed to Make RDX

Materials need to make RDX

How to make RDX

How to make C1 and C4

You may opt to make C-1 which is a bit easier to make than C-4. C-1 is made by using 88.3% RDX, 11.1% mineral oil, and 0.6% lecithin by weight. Kneed these materials together in a plastic bag to desensitize the explosive

C4 can be made with the same technique while substituting materials such as; 91% RDX, 5.3 dioctyl sebacate as the plasticizer, 2.1% polyisobutylene (or synthetic rubber) as the binding agent, and 1/6% mineral oil.

In closing…

As with many of our other articles you take on all risks, and hold allselfsustained.com harmless for any damage to property, injuries, or loss of life. By no means are you to attempt to make this without proper training, and permits. This guide is solely meant for use after TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it). Furthermore, as we’ve seen in our DIY: How to make Thermite Grenades for Vehicle and Equipment Disabling article, the comments section is a wealth of additional information. If you have any extra input, feel free to comment below.

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How to Make Black Powder and Other Explosives

Introduction

Black Powder, also known as Gunpowder, is an explosive that has been around, literally, for centuries. The exact origins of the formula are lost in time, but it is known that the Chinese used Black Powder in weaponry at least 1,000 years ago. Technically, Black Powder burns by a process known as deflagration. This differs from detonation in that Black Powder produces subsonic shock waves, as opposed to the supersonic shock waves produced by explosives such as Dynamite, C-4 or TNT. This means that Black Powder is better suited as a propellant (such as in fireworks, bullets and cannons) than blasting (such as in construction or demolition).

Safety

Ingredients

Black Powder has traditionally consisted of three ingredients: Potassium Nitrate (KNO3, also known as Salt Peter), Sulfur and Charcoal. The Sulfur and Charcoal provide fuel for the reaction, while the Potassium Nitrate provides Oxygen. By themselves, Charcoal and Sulfur will burn, albeit very slowly. The addition of an oxidizer (such as KNO3) greatly speeds up the burn rate of the fuel, resulting in an explosive reaction.

The traditional ratio of the ingredients is 15:3:2 of KNO3, Charcoal and Sulfur by weight (not volume!). However, simply mixing the dry ingredients together will not give you black powder. At best, you will get a green powder that will do little more than produce vast quantities of smoke, and annoy your neighbors. In order to make high-grade powder, a little work is needed.

Preparing the Ingredients

The quality of the resulting powder depends on a number of factors. The most important of these is binding, which refers to how tightly the KNO3 is mixed in with the Charcoal/Sulfur mixture. This is why a loose binding, such as a dry mix, produces a very low-grade powder.

The quality of the powder is defined by its burn rate, usually expressed in cm3/s. A burn rate of about 14 cm3/s or higher is required to use the powder as a propellant. (Also, possession and manufacture of powder with a burn rate of 14 cm3/s or higher constitutes a weapons violation under US law, unless you are also in possession of an ATF license.)

I will present two methods of preparing black powder here. The first produces powder with a slightly lower burn rate, but is safer to prepare. The second can produce very high quality powder, but contains an element of danger. The methods presented here will get you a burn rate of 14 cm3/s or better, depending on how much patience you have, and the quality of your ingredients.

The Charcoal/Sulfur mixture must be ground as finely as possible. Simply whacking away at your barbeque charcoal with a hammer is not going to cut it. The charcoal must be ground into a very fine powder. Commercial manufacturers use large machines known as ball mills to crush the charcoal and sulfur. A ball mill is basically a large rotating drum filled with charcoal, sulfur and a crushing agent, such as lead balls or heavy stones. The mill is rotated at high speed for up to 48 hours or longer. The result is a very finely powdered charcoal/sulfur mixture. (Note: for reasons which should be very obvious, the Potassium Nitrate is not mixed in with the fuel during the milling stage, unless you want to be picking bits of your ball mill out of the walls of your factory.)

Skillet, stovetop (preferably outdoors!), plastic strirrer, 750 ml of Isopropyl Alcohol, household sieves, coffee filters.

The recipe for producing black powder using this method is as follows (adjust quantities as desired, but remember to stick to the ratio). Before you start, have a 750 ml bottle of rubbing alcohol chilled in a freezer for at least 24 hours. (You can purchase rubbing alcohol, also known as Isopropyl Alcohol, from most any drugstore or supermarket).

You should now have real, honest-to-goodness Black Powder. Congrats.

This method is very similar to that described above, but differs in the manner in which the ingredients are mixed. Because it uses electrical equipment, it is considerably more dangerous than the previous method, but can produce very high quality powder.

Electric kitchen blender, 750 ml of Isopropyl Alcohol, household sieve, coffee filters.

Testing Your Powder

In order to test the burn rate of your powder, all you need is a stopwatch and a soda can. Thanks to the magic of the metric system, it turns out that 1 ml = 1 cm3. Soda cans are usually marked with the volume in ml (the average can is 340 ml). You may not want to use an entire can, however, as that would be a waste. Most supermarkets sell soda in halfsize cans (such as you usually get on airliners). Or, you could simply cut a full sized can using a pair of metal shears, and calculate the volume of the can. (For those of you who slept through math at high school, the formula is v = h*pi*r2. Remember to use metric units. In other words, measure the height and diameter of the can in centimeters, not inches, miles or furlongs, or whatever else you Yanks have got stuck with.)

Things that go Bang!

So, what do we use for a container? All those of you who said “metal pipes” or “glass bottles”, please pick up your things and get the hell out of my classroom. Anyone with two brain cells to rub together should realize that when a metal or glass container bursts, the air will suddenly be filled with very tiny pieces of glass or metal, traveling at speeds of several hundred meters per second in all directions. This, boy and girls, is what we call shrapnel, and our aim is to avoid it, unless you want to end up looking like a piece of Swiss cheese.

Firecracker containers are made of cardboard, or soft plastic. Not only is a piece of flying cardboard far less dangerous than a supersonic piece of sharp metal, but cardboard and plastic containers tend to be consumed by the heat of the explosion, leaving even fewer potentially dangerous missiles to fly around.

The suppliers listed below will carry pre-made cardboard tubes, with plugs that are glued into the ends to form a tightly contained tube. If you happen to be impatient, you can probably find something around your house that might do the trick.

To start with, make a small hole in the top of the container. Punch or drill a hole about 2 to 3 mm in diameter in the top of the container. Place a wooden toothpick in the whole (you’ll find out why later.) Fill the container about one-third to one-half with granulated black powder, and glue the top back on. Use a strong glue, like Welder’s all-purpose, or a hot glue gun if you have one. Regular model cement glue will not be strong enough to keep the top in place during the explosion.

Flash Powder

Pros: Flash powder is much, much easier to make. It also produces far more heat and sound than a BP explosion.

Cons: Flash powder is highly unstable. It can easily be set off by friction alone. It also produces a far more powerful explosion than BP. If you are dumb enough to hold a container of BP in your hand while it explodes, you will land up with severely burnt fingers. If you repeat the experiment with flash powder, you will land up with no fingers at all. I’m not kidding. I have personally seen 40 grams of flash powder in a cherry bomb leave a crater a half foot deep in my backyard.

Ingredients

There are several compositions of flash powder. The safest (relatively speaking) is Potassium Perchlorate (KClO4) and Aluminum powder. This produces a powder which is relatively stable, but slightly less potent than the other compositions. Flash powder can also be made from Potassium Chlorate and Aluminum powder. This powder produces an extremely bright flash, and a window-rattling bang, but it is very sensitive to friction. Just staring at it long enough will set it off. I suggest you stick to the perchlorate version.

Making Flash Powder

The ratios by weight for flash powder are 70:30 of KClO4 and Al powder. The powder is mixed as follows:

Cherry Bombs

These are fun little devices. They look cool, make an extremely bright flash and an earsplitting bang. They are also fairly easy to make.

Requirements: Ping-Pong (table tennis) balls, duct tape, box-cutter, strips of newspaper, liquid starch.

Method: cut a small hold about a centimeter in diameter in the ping-pong ball with the box cutter. Fill the ball about one-third with flash powder. Cover the hole with duct tape.

Cut a piece of newspaper into strips about 30 cm by 1.5 cm. Dip a strip of paper into a container of liquid starch, and wrap around the ball. Repeat until the ball is covered with at least three layers of paper.

Leave the ball outside to dry in direct sunlight for 24 to 48 hours, until the paper is completely solid. If you want to add a classic touch, paint the ball red with a can of regular spray paint.

Carefully drill a small hole in the ball for a fuse. It is best to use a hand drill for this purpose, to avoid sparks.

Insert the fuse. Attach the fuse to the surface of the ball with a little model cement or hot glue. (Don’t use too much glue, or it will tend to smother the fuse).