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Molten Potassium Chlorate

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LAN_403

Wastrel

Sat Nov 19 2011, 03:53PM

Registered Member #4095 Joined: Thu Sept 15 2011, 03:19PM
Location: England.
Posts: 122

Sophie Amelia wrote ...

Hmmm, i would love to conduct this experiment:

and connect the end of the test tube to a steam engine that needs at least 5 psi.

This sort of combustion is sensitive to total pressure, expect an explosion. Chlorate/Fuel mixtures even when the amount of fuel is very small have a tendency to detonate.

Using potassium nitrate would avoid the detonation risk, but there is still the same pressure problem that will burst the container, more or less violently.

Tetris

Sat Nov 19 2011, 03:56PM

Registered Member #4016 Joined: Thu Jul 21 2011, 01:52AM
Location: Gainesville, FL
Posts: 660

You could get a steel block, but it would be easier to go to your nearest pottery store, form a plate 3/4 inches thick, and use that. I have a granite counter top, and, well, granite is an igneous rock, so it has a high melting point, and if you have one, and don't mind slight damage to your counter, you could use that.

Ash Small

Sat Nov 19 2011, 05:07PM

Registered Member #3414 Joined: Sun Nov 14 2010, 05:05PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4245

HighVoltageChick wrote ...

You could get a steel block, but it would be easier to go to your nearest pottery store, form a plate 3/4 inches thick, and use that. I have a granite counter top, and, well, granite is an igneous rock, so it has a high melting point, and if you have one, and don't mind slight damage to your counter, you could use that.

I think the OP wants some kind of flask, really, if you read what she hopes to achieve.

Some kind of fired enamelware may do the job, the kind of thing you may find in a junk shop/boot sale, perhaps?

(I'd recommend taking some safety precautions if trying this approach, though.)

Ocean Waves

Tue Nov 22 2011, 01:53PM

Registered Member #4181 Joined: Thu Nov 03 2011, 02:39PM
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Posts: 42

Is is not obvious? you need a pyrex test tube, you can probly obtain one from school, ask one of the older students to grap one for you.....probly be cheaper to buy one though.....

if you insist on doing this the lazy cheap way, you can obtain a fish tank heater and use the glass tube from that, most any ceramic cup for drinking will do the job as well but you will need to set it into a bed to hot coals to get the the required heating, as a torch might just break the cup..........

don't use any metal containers, they will enter the reaction......

Ash Small

Tue Nov 22 2011, 03:24PM

Registered Member #3414 Joined: Sun Nov 14 2010, 05:05PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4245

Ocean Waves wrote ...

don't use any metal containers, they will enter the reaction......

The reason I suggested a glazed metal container is in case of the ceramic cracking/explosion.

Ceramic coated metal vessels are safer, except when they react explosively with the chemical being heated if the ceramic coating fails.

Ocean Waves

Tue Nov 22 2011, 03:57PM

Registered Member #4181 Joined: Thu Nov 03 2011, 02:39PM
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Posts: 42

it really comes down to the need of a small vessel, and for that we are really both wrong, because there is not much thats small and common that will hold up to the heat, now of second thought i going to recommend a small pyrex baking dish the kind found in wall-mart with the rest of the pyrex kitchen ware, I use lots of these in my lab, and they hold up well under even heating, but having such a large open area of molten chlorate is very dangerous, which is why i sub-just, having it in a bed of coals, as if the vessel breaks or tips the chlorate will safely react with the carbon, though a vigorous reaction, realistically safe if done in a baroque pit, i wouldn't expect anyone to hover there face over a bed of searing hot coals to watch such a reaction, my recommendations are from experience having had my face burned by voluminous chlorate reactions.

lesson learned: one must not practice pyrotechnics in the presence of ignorant friends as helpers, they may add the wrong chemical to the composition you are mixing. Poof!!!! 2.5 seconds 3500C and 2nd degree ouch. I said potassium nitrate!!! I got Chlorate and didn't notice. It really sucked because there was Mg fritters in the mix, and I was expecting slow burning sparklers and not a 3 foot ball flash powder Plasma.

Ash Small

Tue Nov 22 2011, 06:35PM

Registered Member #3414 Joined: Sun Nov 14 2010, 05:05PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4245

The OP stated in an earlier post that she wishes to connect it to a pipe, and have a pressurised system.

Maybe you overlooked that point?

radiotech

Fri Nov 25 2011, 07:13PM

Registered Member #2463 Joined: Wed Nov 11 2009, 03:49AM
Location:
Posts: 1546

What are the intermediate phases between KCLO3 and KCl + O2 as
you heat it up beyond molten state? The old texts use the term 'strongly heated'.
to decompose this chlorate.

Also, if done in the Bunsen flame, your rate of rise will depend on what part
of the flame used.

If it did become contaminated, you probably would be wearing the salt and
what was left of the crucible. Not a home experiment.

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