• jballs@sh.itjust.works
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    3 months ago

    My friends and I downloaded the Anarchists cookbook off of a BBS (we’re old as shit now) when we were kids. One of the things in there was how to make a smoke bomb, which sounded harmless enough but also contained chemical ingredients that we didn’t have access to.

    Then one of my buddies moved away and at his new school, they had a chemistry lab. His dumbass got ahold of these chemicals and made the bomb in class - except he fucked up a step and it started smoking immediately.

    It wasn’t just a little bit of smoke, it was a shit load. He said smoke started pouring out at a crazy rate. They ended up evacuating the school thinking the building had caught fire.

    • CouldntCareBear@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      I think that was potassium-permanganate and sugar. It was one of the saner recipes ( who really wants to blow their face off or smoke banana skins ) with somewhat easily available ingredients.

      It was legit. But the temperature window between melting the ingredients together and igniting it was very narrow. We did what your friend did, we made the smoke bomb and also set it off in one go.

      Your friend must’ve been in a while ton of shit.

      • jballs@sh.itjust.works
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        3 months ago

        Lol that is the exact same thing that happened to him. He said he fucked up the temperature and ignited it.

        Somehow, he DIDN’T get in a ton of shit for it. The teachers and fire department didn’t figure out it was an intentional smoke bomb. So they never questioned him about it. He dodged a bullet for sure! That was pre-9/11 and Columbine, so I’m sure kids in a similar situation today would be absolutely fucked.

      • fartographer@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        My lab partner and I made the most reactive version of this we could and got it ripping hot before dropping in a gummy bear. Then we stood under the fume hood making lightsaber noises.

    • nickiwest@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Apparently not.

      I had some friends in undergrad who tried several of the recipes, and they said it was a huge waste of time. (These guys were honors students in science majors, so I wouldn’t chalk it up to user error in all cases.)

      • Art3mis@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        They had to remove key steps to get it published. A lot of the basic steps are there. Ive heard the og version is accurate