Gray Matter: Easy DIY Gunpowder

Is it just me, or does the way this article was written and published seem a tad irresponsible.

Awesome! If I'm ever stuck on a planet with a Gorn, I'll be all set!

@nighthawkich - yeah, it's PopSci's fault if someone's an idiot.

I thought this article was interesting. People make their own Ammunition all the time right? Well, making your own Gunpowder, is usefull too! Why does everybody always assume that everyone want's to blow stuff up with explosive material's, when you can use it for constructive purposes as well. Not everyone has negative intention's.

Boy oh boy does this bring back memories. In the early 60's a cousin and I were really into making our own gunpowder but for Exploding fireworks using cardboard tubes on coat hangers.
Half a tube makes for a big bang. I shudder now to think how stupid we were and how we could have been seriously injured.

Gunpowder was too pedestrian for me when I was only 9 years old. I had my sights set on cryogenic propellants. I wanted to build a rocket that would take me to the Moon!

Gasoline is more dangerous then gunpowder. What he has made is black powder, which is still legal to own in most states, up to 5lbs in California.

This was kind of lame. It would have been more interesting if the mix had included some copper, amethyst, or iron to alter the color of the flame at least.

The instruction on the grinding of the ingedients should be printed in a red warning box. At no time grind more than one of the ingedients in the same mortar. The mixture may explode! You risk losing fingers or your life if you do so!

Tame, when I was about 12 I moved on gun cotton and then nitro glycerine. The gun cotton work out fine but never managed to make viable nitro, not sure why.

kinda fun. I agree with nobodycool, add some color. For all us juvenile experimenters there are many other mixtures that go boom too!!! anyone ever try crinkled up aluminum foil and some drano? makes nice hydrogen gas, very quickly - be careful what container you use though, gets extremely hot very fast.

When I was a kid, I used to make my own gun powder too. I ground the potassium nitrate in a pickle jar mounted on an upside-down roller skate and turned by a 75 rpm record player motor. A roller inside did the grinding. The final mix burned slowly enough to use as rocket fuel, although later I used a powdered sugar mix, which seemed to burn a bit cooler and not melt the nozzle on the rockets.

We had the most fun with magnesium flash bombs made from magnesium turnings, sulfur dust, and toilet paper rolls. Like idiots, we would toss them into the air and one would light up the street bright as day for a couple of seconds. Then we would all scatter before the police came by.

In highschool I got so fed up with bullying, I figured out a way to blow up a town. See scripturalphysics.org/etc/ConsumerExperiences.html#SewersideBomber

My adventures turned out to be tame compared to what my coworkers told me they did with drugs, beer, pickup trucks, girls, motorcycles, discarded National Guard ordinance, etc., etc. I am just amazed that males ever make it to the age of 25.

Quite a dangerous and unsafe video. Popsci ought to remove this.

I have been a black powder shooter for a number of years and can say that there are way too many errors here to be silent. Technically black powder is a not an explosive but a propellant. You can't tell the difference if your face is blown off.

It is proven that black powder is a dangerous product. Yes, gasoline is dangerous too and hundreds of people get hurt with it not because they are stupid. They get hurt doing unsafe things.

First the amount is too dangerous to be playing with in the bags. The loose dust could have blown up.

It is too dangerous to be handling in static prone bags. One needs to have a static safe container.

Zero safety devices. At least a face shield so you can see your blown up hands.

Back in the 70's when I was a kid I used to make my own fireworks. But I found the gunpowder recipe in my Gilbert chemistry set. He's right about the easy availability of the ingredients. What was fun was moving on to thermite and other pyrotechnic mixtures.

But that was the 1970's... A kid doing that now days is likely to be busted for terrorism. It's a sad reflection on our times.

I wouldn't touch the stuff in today's climate. Here in California all it would take is one nosy neighbor for you to be reported as a terrorist in every media outlet by the same people who think "semi-automatic" means machine gun. They cordon off and burn down houses here without ever telling you what chemicals the owner was using or what laws he broke.

I did this in my younger days. Never got injured but almost caught our house on fire. Does not take much to really stink up the house, static ignited my powder. Dad was P.O.ed but he laughed about it years later. I always wetted my mixture then dried it. Still, I am lucky that my shenanagens did not result in injury or worse.
I am lucky that I did not blow my fool head off and I still have all my digits. I think that the times I reloaded shotgun shells and 30-30 rounds was more dangerous. Of course I did not use any of the powder I made, but used the proper reloading materials. The powder used for reloading seemed to burn lots slower than my homemade stuff.

Do this experiment at your own peril! Don't do this experiment and be safe! But that's no fun!

Oh the folly of youth...
Yes I'm a big geek! Not a nerd. What's the difference, about $100,000 a year.
When I was a youthful lad, 25 or so years ago, I loved chemistry. I also am guilty of treating cotton balls w nitric acid to create "gun cotton", I made thermite, anfo, & many other dangerous materials. These materials can be quite dangerous, that's why it was FUN! I never had designs on causing harm nor did I do so unintentionally.
For all the nay sayers many of the items in our daily lives can go boom if we inadvertently mix them. Deadly combinations are in every home across the globe. Mustard gas = bleach & amonia. ANFO = diesel fuel & fertilizer. So a simple "recipe" is knowledge & knowledge can be used for positive or negative outcomes.
Today I am a college educated adult. I am a paramedic. I have been an emergency medical technician since graduating high school. I came out of my experiences as a youth a much wiser person. Thankfully with all of my limbs & digits in good condition.

@nightwatch: what others said is correct, there are far more dangerous substances than gunpowder, some of which you unknowingly use. But, who's more irresponsible; the one who wrote the article, or the one who said it's irresponsible, but can't really do anything about it?

Muriatic acid and aluminum foil in a 2 liter soda bottle was always fun when I was a kid. Had the fire marshal in my living room more than once. Ah, memories.