[ale] Engineering Archaeology

[Bob Toxen]

Too funny!

Bob

On Sun, Jan 25, 2026 at 03:09:46PM -0500, Jon "maddog" Hall via Ale wrote:
> >The kids smarter than I used ammonia and iodine to make
> > explosive "touch powder".
> 
> This formula (and components) were actually included in an early version of
> the AC Gilbert Chemistry Set, labeled as "a safe explosive".   My brother
> and I had a chemistry set when I was nine and he was 15.   We mostly made
> black powder from sulphur, charcoal and saltpeter and turned that into
> little bombs by stuffing little glass bottles that came with the set with
> the mixture, then putting fuses in the top.
> 
> It was in my freshman year at Drexel that I went to a local chemical supply
> house, bought iodine crystals and liquid ammonia to make N3I (nitrogen
> triiodide) which is the scientific name for your "touch powder".
> 
> II had made quite a small batch and was letting it dry in an ashtray in my
> room when I started to think about how powerful this might actually be.   I
> decided to take it down the hall and flush it down the toilet.  I picked up
> the ashtray when a tiny little crystal fell off onto the floor and went
> BOOM
> Really shocked, I started carefully carrying the ashtray down the hall to
> the communal bathroom, found an empty stall and dumped it safely down the
> toilet.
> 
> Then, as I returned to my room, I heard other explosions.
> 
> BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM
> 
> which were crystals that had fallen off wet, landed on the floor,
> dried..and were now being set off by the VIBRATIONS of me walking down the
> hallway. This was a tile floor on top of concrete...not easily
> susceptible to vibration.
> 
> Fearing that the floor monitor would come by any second I got several of my
> friends to stomp up and down the floor (after explaining briefly what
> happened) to make as many of these microscopic grains of explosive go off
> as possible.
> 
> Finally we seemed to have covered the hallway and my friends asked where
> else I the crystals had been.   I explained that they had been in my room
> and the bathroom in a particular stall.
> 
> We went to the bathroom and the stall was occupied by a terrified friend
> who kept hearing explosions going off any time he moved.   Fortunately he
> was not barefoot at the time.
> 
> Later on that evening my roommate came back to the room and I explained
> what had happened, as our room was also part of a lingering fireworks
> display.
> 
> It was a couple of months before the last of the crystals exploded....but
> by that time I had almost burned the room down making a hot air balloon,
> which is another story.
> 
> md
> 
> On Sun, Jan 25, 2026 at 2:37???PM Steve Litt via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:
> 
> >
> > On Tue, 20 Jan 2026 12:12:48 -0500 (EST)
> > "jon.maddog.hall--- via Ale" <ale at ale.org> wrote:
> >
> > > > I'm guessing the statue of limitations has been exceeded his
> > > > crimes.
> > >
> > >
> > > when I was in electronics class at Dulaney Senior High I built a
> > > transmitter that jammed all the car radios for about 15 minutes in
> > > Lutherville, Maryland in 1967.
> > >
> > > There!  I got it off my chest!
> > >
> > > md
> >
> > Maddog, you're under arrest. Anything you say can and will be used
> > against you in a court of law. You're entitled to an attorney. If you
> > cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you.
> >
> > Maybe I'll be your cellmate. At 17 I took my Ocean Hopper regenerative
> > radio (you'll doubtlessly remember how tube regens of the era
> > oscillated and therefore transmitted out the antenna), hooked a
> > microphone to the output transformer which I'd converted to an
> > input transformer, and transmitted my own radio show about 1/2
> > block. The station was called "Bear Nine Radio" from Cincinnati Ohio,
> > even though I was in a northern suburb of Chicago. Nobody sent me a QSL
> > though.
> >
> > I was friends with the girl upstairs and also with her boyfriend, who
> > was a Gymnastics teammate. She and I planned a prank. She tuned in my
> > radio, on which I played all sorts of contemporary Top 40 from my reel
> > to reel, gave them about 10 minutes to get busy, and then gave them a
> > personal shoutout.
> >
> > Another prank. My family lived in a second story apartment. I stashed a
> > portable radio on the sidewalk below, and every time a pedestrian
> > walked by, I'd say hi to him or her. My friend and my dad were watching
> > and laughing. Then an ancient, ancient man, must have been almost 70,
> > walked by and my radio said hi to him. He clutched his chest, looked
> > like he was about to drop dead, and then staggered away. My dad told me
> > not to do that anymore.
> >
> > I kind of miss the days when any teenager could buy lye, aluminum foil
> > and calcium chloride to make hydrogen balloons, could buy metallic
> > magnesium ribbons and sulfur to burn. The kids smarter than I used
> > ammonia and iodine to make explosive "touch powder". Every male
> > child had a huge blob of mercury to play with, garnered from many
> > thermometers. We endlessly rolled it around, and used it to turn copper
> > pennies silver. when our moms said mercury was dangerous poison, we all
> > said the same thing: "Mom, I'm not going to eat it!"
> >
> > SteveT
> >
> > Steve Litt
> > Featured book: Troubleshooting Techniques of the Successful
> > Technologist http://www.troubleshooters.com/techniques
> >
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