sagoraMundy

A purple strobe pot, as well as a blue one, are perfectly possible.

Hmm. Gotta invoke the ole cliche here, "talk is cheap." Been working on a blue strobe pot for months and so far nada. Custom blue strobe pots have been recorded at special events but I've yet to find a commercially available blue strobe pot.

Simply sub'ing a Cu salt for another metal salt (like strontium or barium) does not work, prob'ly due to the H20 that's latent in most Cu salts.

Share your formula with us for a blue strobe that works, please.

No argument about your definition of redox--but the above mentioned Cu/Al mixture will not burn by itself. It needs more oxygen than just atmospheric, hence my query as to the exact composition of the mixture demo'd in the vid.

(Just tried it with a little AP and it burned gloriously blue).

And waxing a bit OT, anybody got a clue as to why email notifications of responses to subscribed threads is not working anymore?

Thanks in a trance,
s

Says it's a redox reaction and the ingredients listed are 2 parts Al and 3 parts CuCl--but what's the oxygen donor? Will this mixture burn without an (additional) oxygen donor?

For instance, this video shows a mixture of copper chloride and aluminum burning:

Thanx creepinP for responding so thoughtfully to my note.

You may have nailed it with your observation that the Cu shouldn't be too fine; mine's -325 mesh.

(Your video is just so goddam kool I'm determined to get this to work).

Likewise I may have used too much NC lacquer. Mine was a fairly liquid putty consistency; perhaps I need to add only just enough to make the ingredients stick together.

Again, I appreciate your piping up so quickly and with such helpful suggestions.

And MDH's mention of Cu chloride inspires me to experiment with copper salts in standard (Mg and Mg/Al fueled) strobe mixes to see if I can get a good blue . . .

OK trying your original comp and I'm wondering if you've left something out of your ingredients list.

You say it's hard to keep lit--not so when I mix it up and bind it with NC lacquer.

Is that your video you link to?

My replication of your exact formula yields a steady burning torch--nothing even approximating a strobe.

That is a kool video--but are you dead certain it's the compound you list at the start of this post?

My results are nothing even remotely like what's shown in that video at pyrobin.

What's the source of that "Optimus' Purple Strobe" formula?