By
TG Richardson
“Charcoal, saltpetre, sulphur and that’s it.” I said.
“Are you sure Gordon? That’s all there is to making gunpowder,” said Ginger Murray,
“I got the formula from a book in the library.
Poss. Johnson asked, “What sort of quantities do you use?”
“I don’t know, I’m going to experiment.
You will help won’t you?” I asked Jumbo E1liott.
“I suppose so, Could be fun”, replied Jumbo.
In the chemistry lab Jumbo and I started our experiment. “Einstein” our chemistry master let us do our own thing as long as we were quiet. While I ground up some charcoal Jumbo went to find some sulphur and saltpetre, He returned with these ingredients and added them to the
charcoal, We guessed the quantities it looked gunpowder,
I poured a small amount on to a piece of tin and lit it; There was a swoosh as it burnt rapidly, This was the real stuff without doubt, I poured the rest of the gunpowder into an envelope and put it in my pocket,
At break I put some of the gunpowder into a metal tube, Standing on the ends I dented it in, “Who is going to hit it with something to see if it goes off?”
“You must be joking,” said Ging, “There was something in the paper the other day about some kids blowing off their hands with fireworks, This might be much more powerful,”
“Okay,” I said: drop something on it and we”ll all run before it goes off” “It’s metal. It could spray bits every where we could be blinded”, said Jumbo,
“Shrapnel, that’s what you mean, My granddad told me about it, He got several bits in his head in the first world war, You three get behind that wall and I”11 do it, After all it’s my bomb, I invented it”
As they hid behind the wall I suddenly felt worried, My granddad had said a lump of shrapnel could tear your head off, I picked up a large rock dropping it on the tube I dashed behind the wall, There was a deafening silence: Nothing had happened, I tried several times but nothing, In the end we gave up throwing the tube into the woods, Ah well back to the drawing board or should I say library for more formulae.
Nitroglycerine was much easier to make all it took was nitric acid and glycerine . I had some nitric acid but couldn’t find any glycerine any where.
“Excuse me sir I wonder if you can help me with my experiment,? I asked Einstein. “What exactly do you want?” “I can’t find any glycerine, It is in the cupboard,”
He looked at me suspiciously,
“The cupboards locked sir can I have the key please.?”
What are you trying to make before I give you the key to the cupboard.”
“Nitro-glycerine”, I said innocently.
You could blow the whole school up! To mix nitro-glycerine you can’t just pour nitric acid onto glycerine. There would be an instant explosion, It has to be measured precisely and mixed very carefully indeed,” He went into a description of how to do this before stopping in mid stream as he realised what he was doing, “Get back to your bench boy and get on with something less dangerous. Much less dangerous”, he added, That was the end of our experiments in the realms of high explosives which is probably just as well;