Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Nitrogen Triiodide (2016)

fourmilab.ch

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 64 posts

Re: Nitrogen Triiodide (2016)

#41

Post by wbl »

gerdesj wrote: post #25
chickensong wrote: post #21

The Anarchist Cookbook had a recipe for this IIRC, called ANTI (Ammonia Nitrate TriIodide). My chemistry teacher was not pleased at the pits left in the classroom countertops.

Yes, its an old one. Inject it into a keyhole. Kids - do note that the Anarchist's Cookbook is absolutely verboten in the UK at least. My old man was an ATO so I didn't need a copy. The original AC will be several elements in every wordlist that every intelligence service ever has. It is probably quite close to EICAR in that world.

It's a very poorly done book, compared to the 100% American TM-21-210.

Re: Nitrogen Triiodide (2016)

#42

Post by sb8244 »

I made this for my high school chemistry project. We made it in the morning so it would be ready for our afternoon class.

It was drying in the chemistry back office and there must have been a draft. It exploded during a silent study hall.

Somehow they let us remake it for class that afternoon. We tried to put it on the floor as a joke, but our teacher was wearing sandals that day (no lab). She wasn't happy about it.

I originally got the idea (and prank idea) the previous year from a retiring chemistry teacher.

Re: Nitrogen Triiodide (2016)

#43

Post by jpmattia »

MIT has a long tradition of hacks, and among the first documented hacks in the 1870s for marching practice:

> in which students sprinkled iodide of nitrogen over the grounds of a military drill, causing explosions under classmates' boots.

https://www.slate.com/articles/life/culturebox/2012/02/mit_p...

Re: Nitrogen Triiodide (2016)

#45

Post by nullc »

If you like crazy chemistry stories, be sure to read "Excuse Me Sir, Would You Like to Buy a Kilo of Isopropyl Bromide?".

One of the first stories in it involve the high school chemistry club breaking into the local college to get materials for some experiments. Along the way they find metallic sodium in kerosene and take some by shoving it in someone's back pocket. After some time passes it predictably catches fire. But don't worry: they have water handy!

Re: Nitrogen Triiodide (2016)

#46

Post by Full_Clark »

Terr_ wrote: post #27
gerdesj wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, its an old one. Inject it into a keyhole. Kids - do note that the Anarchist's Cookbook is absolutely verboten in the UK at least. My old man was an ATO so I didn't need a copy. The original AC will be several elements in every wordlist that every intelligence service ever has. It is probably quite close to EICAR in that world.

> It is probably quite close to EICAR in that world. I recall reading some story where the author was able to do a denial of service attack on a system by putting EICAR in it, causing a kind of autoimmune dysfunction.

There's a good DEFCON 29 presentation on this topic. https://youtu.be/cIcbAMO6sxo

If you skip forward to 16m 33s you'll be treated to a lively streak of invective from the passenger of a car whose driver has just confirmed that feeding EICAR to a parking system prevents it from letting any vehicle past the barrier.

Re: Nitrogen Triiodide (2016)

#47

Post by keepamovin »

sb8244 wrote: post #42

I made this for my high school chemistry project. We made it in the morning so it would be ready for our afternoon class. It was drying in the chemistry back office and there must have been a draft. It exploded during a silent study hall. Somehow they let us remake it for class that afternoon. We tried to put it on the floor as a joke, but our teacher was wearing sandals that day (no lab). She wasn't happy about it.…

lol - great story. So many good stories here about this stuff.

I agree with others who say it's dangerous, but only if you use sufficient quantities, or contained (don't contain!). A few crystals sprinkled in different places will just produce the pops and not hurt anything - I think! :)

From memory: size of a full stop or white sesame seed will already produce a very (but not painfully) loud bang; whereas a speck so tiny on the ground you can't readily see it from standing height is sufficient for a "walking over" prank, surprisingly loud for how tiny it is.

The ultrafast snappy pop and purple smoke is satisfying, but it does stain.

I like the comment about ping pong - hilarious use case.

Re: Nitrogen Triiodide (2016)

#48

Post by keepamovin »

rdtsc wrote: post #34
bognition wrote: post #7

Oh wow! Growing up my chemical engineer uncle would come out on the Fourth of July and dump a bucket of stuff on the road in front of his house. A while later when it was dried he'd have us roller blade and skate board down the road to setup all the little explosions. It was a total blast. He refused to tell anyone what the compound was, but assured us it could be easily made. It has to be this stuff.

This stuff would go off immediately if you touched it. I used to make it with my friends with household ammonia and medical iodine. We mixed them and then filtered through paper. Then this brown powder would explode after it dried if we touched it just lightly.

It's crazy that something so unstable can even exist at RTP. Like it's interesting how it threads the line between so-unstable-you-can't-make-me, and stable-enough-to-make-but-decompose-under-a-stern-glance. Universe has a sense of fun, NI3 is tuned specifically for existence as a prank substance.

Re: Nitrogen Triiodide (2016)

#49

Post by 14 »

My dad talks about making this stuff as a teen. It started with a chemistry kit that came with all sorts of dangerous things they would never in a million years sell targeting to a kid again. This peaked his interest in chemistry and he came across nitrogen triiodide while researching at a library with actual paper books lol. The ingredients were of no difficulty to obtain back then. They made this stuff and had fun setting some of it off. But he then told me that the next day he and his buddy thought let’s go set off some more. But he thought about it and they both said but what if the stuff on the edge of the jar has dried? Yes they made a fairly big sample. They were too nervous to open it so he told me he dug a hole and carefully moved it and hurried it. It sucks that people do bad things with chemicals as I would love to play around with things like this carefully in a safe setting without risk of other being hurt.
Post reply on HN