Re: [ATM] Does exposed Pyrex lose polish over time?

[jmax@toad.net]

On Mon, 3 May 2004 16:36:13, "Richard Schwartz" <richas@earthlink.net> wrote:
>   
>   I tested this idea.  I smeared some vaseline on a microscope slide and then
>   swabbed it with concentrated HNO3.    You are right!   The HNO3 did nothing
>   to the vaseline, and neither did the tap water I rinsed with.   So the
>   cleaning process must require distilled de-ionized water.  I burned the
>   cotton swab in the fireplace, and it was really cool how it flared up!  I
>   bet you could make firecrackers outta that stuff.
>   
>   . . . Richard
>   

Richard, normally I quite enjoy your dry sense of humor and sly digs at
Recieved Wisdom... but perhaps you might avoid posts which entice newbies
to make explosives? At the very least, warning them strikes me as common
courtesy.

(For those who are puzzled by my comment, soaking cotton in
concentrated nitric acid and then letting it dry is the original
recipe for nitrocellulose, A.K.A gun-cotton, A.K.A "smokeless powder."
It was formerly used as propellant in all sorts of rifle and artillery
ammunition, before munitions manufacturers discovered even better
substances for the purpose. Weight for weight, gun-cotton is
considerably more explosive than gunpowder, and is fairly dangerous
stuff to handle.)

-John

-- 
John A. Maxwell (jmax@toad.net)

"`You may recall Archelaus's explanation of earthquakes,' he said
cryptically. `Earthquakes were cause by air trapped in underground
caves. It shook the earth in its effort to escape. Everyone knew then
that the earth was flatulent.'"
    -John MacPhee, Annals of the Former World




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