Survival/Prepping Chemistry

[Tiercel]

Hello all,

Just a thought I had floating around in my head, I like prepping, prepping is fun. I also love chemistry, tonne of fun making things glow or go bang. So why not combine the two? Lots of people's ideas for prepping seem basic or even primitive, which of course isnt a bad thing as basic/primitive things adhere to the principle of KISS. But, who said it HAS to be so basic?

So I was wondering if there would be any interest in me putting together a thread of useful chemistry that would make life a bit easier, things like being able to carry around a phial of fire wherever you go, home made antiseptic & antifungal washes, or simple chemicals you can get anywhere that have a multitude of practical uses.

So to start, and to whet your appetite for some chemistry witchcraft - a phial of fire! This is guaranteed to start a fire in practically all but the wettest of situations:

You will need:

- Potassium Permanganate
- Glycerine
- Something to keep the two in, old 35mm camera film pots or something similar to that is ideal.

and thats it! Potassium permanganate is easily available from anywhere really. Glycerine sounds fancy, but it isnt! You can buy pure glycerine if you want, but a cheap and easily available substitute is car antifreeze!

NOTE: I am providing this information on the assumption that you are sensible adults, and whilst this is beginner level chemistry and should be very safe, I take no responsibility if you cock it up and hurt yourself If you dont know what you're doing or think its going wrong, dont do it!

Neither of these chemicals are particularly hazardous, just dont eat or drink them. The Potassium will absorb moisture from the air over time so you need to keep it in an airtight container.

Now for the fun bit, time to make some fire!

Simply put a small amount (about a small heaped teaspoon) of the potassium down, get your kindling ready, then add a few drops (half a teaspoon or so) of glycerine to the potassium, it should start to fizz and smoke, and within a few seconds burst into a quite agressive fire - arrange your kindling and off you go!

As an extra use, if you add some sugar to the potassium before adding the glycerine, when it burns it will produce billowing thick clouds of white smoke - useful for signalling perhaps? You can add other chemicals to change the colour of the smoke but thats getting a bit complicated and potentially produces toxic fumes, so I wont cover that.

You can actually get ready made kits of this off eBay, however they are a total rip off - you get 2 phials of each chemical in a tobacco tin and they charge about £15 for a few pennies worth of chemicals!

So theres your first bit of survival chemistry.
What do people think? Is there any interest in this kind of stuff? Id be more than happy to write more of these simple guides, or if people have any particular requests for some sort of chemistry based problem Id be happy to do some research and find a way of doing it.

[Mobenator]

I like the sound of that! As a biomed graduate I miss using chemicals!

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[Vespa]

Interesting subject.

Is the Glycerine from this link suitable?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vegetable-Gly ... 1c30c654ae

Permanganate is also a very useful anti athletes foot remedy, turns your feet purple and then brown though

Much cheaper than the creams and potions you get from Boots that never seem to work.

[Tiercel]

Interesting subject.

Is the Glycerine from this link suitable?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vegetable-Gly ... 1c30c654ae

Permanganate is also a very useful anti athletes foot remedy, turns your feet purple and then brown though

Much cheaper than the creams and potions you get from Boots that never seem to work.

Indeed Potassium Permanganate (KMnO4) has a whole variety of uses, its a very useful chemical for SHTF moments. It can be used to sterilise water, to make an antiseptic wash that will kill bacteria, viruses and fungal infections, make fire and will stain anything it touches a very vivid purple, so possibly handy for making signals on snow or grass.

Im not 100% sure about that link for glycerine, in theory it should work however Im unsure as to whether theres a chemical difference between food grade vegetable glycerine and lab/industrial grade glycerine which is usually obtained from beef fat.

Heres an exciting video of it in action and showing how quick and easy it is to get a fire going with it (in the video they use glycerine cough syrup, which is easy and pretty much everyone has some form of it!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1hm_L_Zg9k

So whilst were on the topic of KMnO4, other uses for it:

Water purification:

Its use is fairly straight forward. First, if there is any sediment in the water, strain it out. Then add 3 – 4 crystals per liter of water. Stir or shake for a few seconds then let sit for 2 hours. The water should be a light pink (a concentration of 1:10,000) – no darker.

Here are some proportions for killing the different nasty organisms that can find their way into water:

Bacteria requires a minimum of 2.5mg per liter of water.
Viruses require a minimum of 50mg (close to danger levels) per liter.

Potassium permanganate can become toxic in high concentrations, just like anything. The lowest recorded instance of a person being poisoned was 100mg per kilogram of body weight. That being said, the LD50 (Lethal Dose) scale for Potassium permanganate is 1900mg per kilogram of body weight.

Just remember, as long as it is pink – it’s probably ok to drink.

To use as an antiseptic, anti-fungal treatment, or emergency snow signal, add crystals one by one until the solution turns purple. Shake and use to flush out a wound, soak a fungal infection, or to leave a message in the snow.

[beer999]

Definitely interested in this and any others. Got any costs for this one? IE may be cheaper than firelighters for lighting my fire!

[mallie99]

Brought to you by the Jolly Roger and William Powell

... Just as a side note, ordering large quantities of chemicals may get you put on a watch list somewhere

[Tiercel]

Definitely interested in this and any others. Got any costs for this one? IE may be cheaper than firelighters for lighting my fire!

Potassium Permanganate is dirt cheap, the glycerine is slightly more expensive depending on what form you buy it in. Rough costs, well Ive checked eBay and a 100g bag of P.P is about £3, Glycerine you can get bottles of the stuff from Poundland when they sell cough syrup. Depending on how big you want your fire to be, 100g of P.P would be enough to start about 15-20 fires or so. You can buy these kits ready made: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MD-POTASSIUM- ... 19e484007b

But theyre a complete rip off price-wise. Though I suppose it might be handy if you want some nice tins and phials to keep them in and you can top up the ingredients yourself as you use them.

Brought to you by the Jolly Roger and William Powell

... Just as a side note, ordering large quantities of chemicals may get you put on a watch list somewhere

Im sure the NSA and MI6 have bigger things to worry about than me buying harmless chemicals off eBay. Or if youre really worried you can buy these from a chemist and just pay with cash

[KrisWard]

... Just as a side note, ordering large quantities of chemicals may get you put on a watch list somewhere

Do you not think we as members of this site are already on a governmental list somewhere, they do so like there lists!!!

I already have the PP and gycerol and did start a thread of about it a couple months back. I would love to learn more on the chemistry side, as I cant remember any of it lol

It can be the difference between survival or not

[Yorkshire Andy]

Do you not think we as members of this site are already on a governmental list somewhere, they do so like there lists!!!

im sure they'd love to get their hands on my 5 tins of baked beans if the SHTF... they best be quick though as within 2 days it will be nearly all gone and any attempt to take the last 1/2 can will be met with extreme flatulence




on the subject of chemicals anyone remember this

[Tiercel]

I already have the PP and gycerol and did start a thread of about it a couple months back. I would love to learn more on the chemistry side, as I cant remember any of it lol

It can be the difference between survival or not

KMnO4(s) + C3H5(OH)3(s) → Mn2O3(s) + K2CO3(s) + CO2(g) + H2O(l)

I cant seem to figure out how to do super/sub script text on this forum, but oh well its not vital but it would lose you points on a test!

Basically the Potassium permanganate oxidises with the glycerine, producing an intense exothermic reaction, which eventually creates enough heat that it reaches potassium's flash point and causes it to ignite quite violently, the resulting reaction produces potassium carbonate (which can be dissolved in water to make a fairly agressive alkali solution, though I imagine you'd have a hard time seperating it from the remains of the fire ) and manganese oxide, which is fairly useless, plus steam and carbon dioxide gasses.



So for todays lesson:

Home made signalling devices!

So I mentioned coloured smoke earlier and how I wouldnt tell you how to make it because its too dangerous? Well, with a little digging Ive found a "safe" recipe for home made smoke bombs & coloured smoke.

White Smoke Recipe
Potassium nitrate (AKA Saltpeter, available from most garden stores) - 4 parts
Charcoal - 5 parts
Sulfur - 10 parts
Wood dust - 3 parts

Grind it up into a fine powder, mix it all together in something that will resist heat (perhaps an empty clean tin can?), then light it with a taper, or put a fuse in it (thick string soaked in lighter fluid makes a great DIY fuse, alternatively you can use magnesium ribbon for a pretty fuse) and stand well back.

This will burn fairly fast and intense and give you a nice big cloud of smoke, but it wont last very long and in the grand scheme of things isnt that impressive.

Now, if you want something a bit more heavy duty, something thats really going to get you noticed by SAR or your bug out buddies, consider having a few of these ready made:

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Smoke-Bomb

Method #1 gives some fantastic results.

So how do you make them coloured I hear you ask? The problem with making coloured smoke is that most of the chemicals used in industrial pyrotechnics, maritime smoke flares or military smoke grenades are very nasty stuff. e.g. Para-red, which will burn the lining of your throat and potentially carcinogenic.

Well with a slight addition, the recipe in method #1 above can be modified to achieve this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59uYMyXdZ6k#t=145

which I think is bloody impressive

The dye mentioned is organic dye powder, which is (apparantly) used to make coloured candles and things like that and can be obtained from your local hobby & crafts shop, or alternatively ebay: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/100g-Solvent- ... 1036842012

In the event that the mentioned sites are unavailable or get deleted from youtube, heres the method so you can print it off and keep it handy:

Smoke bombs are composed of a simple concoction of potassium nitrate and sugar. By mixing these ingredients and melting them together, you create a flammable product that produces whirls of smoke when you light it on fire. Here's what you'll need:

1. Buy potassium nitrate, also called saltpeter, online. You can also find it at your local garden store, since it's used to treat soil.
2.Get some sugar. Dark brown sugar is said to make the smoke look thicker, but white will also do just fine.
3. Pick up some baking soda. Adding a tablespoon or so will make the smoke take a bit longer to burn.
4. Get a small length of fuse to insert in the smoke bomb. (they use firework fuse in the method, however if you cant get hold of that string soaked in lighter fluid works just as well)
5. Measure out three parts saltpeter to two parts sugar.
6. Place the ingredients in a cast iron pot (personally not sure that cast iron is an absolute requirement, Id use a cheap pan that Im never going to use for anything else because chances are the smoke bomb goo mixture is going to ruin it)
7. Prepare a cardboard box lined with aluminum foil.
8. Heat the pan slowly over low temperature. Stir the mixture constantly until the mixture is completely melted. As the sugar caramelizes, it should take on a brown or black color.
Do not over cook the mixture. Take care not to let it start on fire. If it starts to smoke, turn off the heat immediately.
9. Add one spoonful of baking soda.
10. Add approximately 3 spoons of your chosen dye
11. mix thoroughly
12. Pour mixture into the foil lined box. Insert a fuse while the mixture is still soft.
13. Let the mixture completely harden. It might take an hour or so to solidify.

(you can also add a few things to this to make DIY tear gas, but thats very illegal - though possibly useful in a post SHTF situation? Either way, Im not gonna go there )

Make sure you're up wind of these when you light them. Whilst theyre far safer than some other methods and non toxic, the smoke certainly wont do you any favours... and also if youre a bit wet or sweaty, the smoke dye might bond to your skin

Smoke is all well and good, but what if its night time? Maritime distress flares are difficult to get hold of and dont have a long self life.

All you need is a mix of 50% potassium nitrate, 30% aluminium powder/granules and 20% sulfur. Ground finely, put into a cardboard tube, tube wrapped tightly with duct tape, fuse in the top, light it and throw.

Id be tempted to add a little magnesium powder to the mix as well, however I havent had a chance to actually try this one myself yet so not sure if it would benefit from Mg or not.