chrissw

if you have nothing to hide then you have no reason to be worried. We were not expecting to find anything questionable, but we decided to check. Quite puzzled you found this offensive, but ho hum there we go.

No problem as far as I am concerned, if we are seen to belong to a sensibly-managed forum then the security people will - if they look - see that we are a responsible group with no interest in anything iffy - well done to 'The Management' for taking the time out to do it!

Why would you need several litres of acids for pyrotechnics?

Sorry if I didn't make it clear in the first place - I intend to do private study
of chemistry in general, possibly leading on to an OU degree later on when I retire
but these days you only get to do practicals for 2 weeks of the year in summer, unlike in the "good old days" when the OU used to supply students with quite
comprehensive chemistry gear for home use.

Not to forget the infamous Halifax incident, one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions ever.

yes indeed, a spondiferous bang of almost biblical proportions after 2 ships collided and the one with amm. nitrate floated around on fire in the harbour until it went up killing over 1000 onlookers and reporters who gathered at the quayside to watch the fun!

Ok first off im new on the formums so hi all.

i am quite(6 months) new to pyro but can already see many angry faces to this question...
is potassium chlorate that bad to use as a replacment to potassium nitrate in bp? it seems to work fine for me and is much easyer, it is also a lot cheaper only issues is everywhere seems to say not to use it especialy not with sulphur. ive so far had no problems, it is only sensitive if i hit a pile of it with a hammer and i havent been storing it. as there seems to be loads of conflicting info on this everywhere i decided somone here would most likely no if it is safe to use? i would by perc but i can only find it realy expensive so...also which is a better for use as oxidiser in propellants nitrate or chlorate.
sorry to bring this issue up again i just wanted a realy clear answer.

You can try belting it with a hammer if you insist, however, let me know where and when you intent starting the experiment, so I can be somewhere else when it finishes you!!!!!!!

Thanks for that alany..

i have just purchased his ebook only cost a few $ and will have a look later..first glances looks very promising ..

Would it be possible to connect say for eg... 5 computer atx psu's  each supplying 20 amps in parallel so as to produce 100 amps?.. i have a funny feeling doing that would end up with a big banG!

You can connect several PSU's with identical DC output voltages in parallel safely if the output from each one is connected to the anode of a 20A rectifier diode and all the cathodes from the diodes connected together to form your '100A' output terminal. What will happen is that the PSU with the highest output voltage (even if they are all say 6V outputs, each one will have a +/-5% tolerance, ie they will not all be exactly identical) will try to supply all the current, causing it's output voltage to dip a bit as soon as it hit's it's 20A limit, the one with the next highest output level will then 'kick in' and begin supplying current. This will happen until they are all delivering current and a sort of output voltage equilibrium will be reached. For diodes, look at either Farnell or Maplins on line.