Re: Back in the day
Back in the day, my high school chemistry text offered interesting insights in all kinds of things, as did history texts with details on black powder (flour), black powder (corned), brown powder, and guncotton, (Corned powder was made starting with flour powder, and a liquid, which when properly applied would form solid cakes which would then be ground down. Allegedly many mercenary arillerists insisted that the best liquid for the purpose was a wine drinker's urine, employer to provide the wine. No further comment.) Note that gunpowder, all forms, and guncotton, early forms, was notoriously unstable. Allegedly one French and one American battleship blew up because of problems with guncotton. (The Yankee might have had a problem with its coal which then caused the guncotton to go, but the Frog was definitely killed by guncotton.) At least three of HM Battle Cruisers blew up in large part because of their new, improved, guncotton, assisted by German naval rifles. If professional weapons guys could make battleship-killing errors, why then amateurs had best be really careful, eh?
Note that proper research could reveal how to make nitroglycerin, dynamite, two different types of plastic explosive, napalm (napalm’s easy, and relatively safe), nitrogen mustard, phosgene, and, a personal favorite, sarin. Hint: the guys who thought up sarin were looking for a new insecticide. Be advised that careless actions would have negative consequences. It is incredibly easy to blow yourself up making gunpowder, guncotton, or nitroglycerin. Not to mention that if you're playing with guncotton or nitroglycerin, you're playing with nitric acid. Go ahead. Fuck around with that stuff. In my distant youth I did. How I managed to not blow myself up or get severe acid burns is unclear to me at the present. I wouldn't be messing with it now. (You would also be playing with sulphuric acid, even better than nitric.) If you need a warning before playing with war gases, you're beyond hope. Note that one Japanese suicide cult made sarin twice, so it's easily made even by idiots; the first time they turned it loose no one noticed, so the second time they did it in a subway train. People noticed.