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I'm not going to go into a detailed explanation of what thermite is or
does, all
I'll say is that it's cool.
What is Thermite?
More on Thermite
Obtaining the Aluminum
1) Go to a machine shop. They will usually give you aluminum powder for
sweeping the floor or something.
2) Break open an Etch-A-Sketch, the stuff inside is pure aluminum
powder.
3) Go to a paint store, they usually have powdered aluminum that people
use to mix into paints to give it pigment.
4) Get a grinder, and something made of aluminum. Good ideas are soda
cans, bike frames, and lacrosse sticks. Start grinding the aluminum and
collect the sparks in a container.
5) Search eBay, they sell it for pretty cheap.
Obtaining the Iron Oxide (Rust)
1) Take some steel wool then put it in a jar and
then cover it wool with water. Use a magnet to make sure the steel wool
doesnt float during the reaction process. Next, put in 5 tablespoons of
regular bleach into the water and 5 tablespoons of regular vinager. Wait
a day or so and then filter the brown paste with a coffee filter. Leave
it out to dry overnight.
2) Go to a paint store, they usually have powdered iron oxide
that people use to mix into paints to give it pigment.
3) Connect wires to a direct current (9-volt battery), strip both ends
and put them into a saltwater solution. Let them sit for five minutes.
One of them will start bubbling more than the other. This is the
POSITIVE(+) wire. Put a nail tied to the positive wire into the jar. Now
put the negative wire in the other end. Now let it sit overnight and in
the morning scrape the rust off of the nail & repeat until you have a
bunch of rust on the bottom of the glass. Let it dry out, and crush it
into a powder.
4) Search eBay, they sell it for pretty cheap.
Mixing the Stuff
Thermite is 8 grams of iron oxide to 3
grams of aluminum. The formula is by weight but because aluminum is very
light, it will appear to be approximately a 50-50 mix. Put them together
in a container and mix them until it is an even mixture. If you want,
mix four parts thermite with one part clay or Play-Doh and knead
thoroughly for moldable thermite.
Igniting
Thermite needs a lot of heat to light, that means magnesium. Find some
magnesium ribbon, or a sparkler that contains magnesium and put it into
a pile of thermite. Light it and run!
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