Those cretins have effectively confiscated my homemade Hydroxy Gas Production Unit!
Basically if you run an electric current through water, it will separate into oxygen gas and hydrogen gas (and shock and/or blow you up if you don't know what you're doing. I do.) I used scrap sheet metal (sanded to wear off the finish/increase surface area). I used 4 inch ABS plastic cleanout fittings, 3/8 inch poly tubing, and some scrap 4 inch and 2 inch acrylic tubing. I created generator plates by having the machine precision cut metal plates laid out plate/washer/plate/nut. That was the 4 inch tube generator chamber, and the 2 inch was for a bubbler. 6 cups of distilled water and 4 teaspoons of potassium hydroxide (catalyst for electrical flow). Two car batteries as power would make about 5 litters of hydroxy gas fuelant off that 6 cups of distilled water. I disassembled the entire thing after this, took pictures of it and handed it over to them....
[I am not going to provide all the details on how to do this for fear someone might try to copy it. This is dangerous if you don't know what you're doing and trust me, you probably don't. I do. Blasting is an ultra-hazardous activity and that's what it will be if you screw up.
DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER TRYING THIS AT HOME.]
Hydrogen gas is a highly explosive material and having oxygen gas in the mix makes it all the moreso. While the assertion that this could absolutely be used to make explosives/bombs is true, the fact remains that it could also be used to make fuel for a generator creating fuel power. If you've ever heard of a hydrogen car or the navy turning seawater into fuel, then this is the same basic concept. Essentially, you could make a bomb out of gasoline too, but that doesn't mean you'd actually DO it.... It also doesn't mean gasoline should be illegal.... Also there is plenty of gasoline on school grounds, in cars, in the maintenance sheds (they run those lawn mowers on something), etc.
So, now on to how this whole mess got going. I have tutored certain students for some time in a variety of subjects, including English literature, mathematics (basic) and science, among others. The local high school chemistry teacher asked me to do a demonstration for his Advanced Placement College Credit Class (AP Chem Class) as a reward for good behavior / as a way to show how this stuff was actually useful / should be paid attention to / might actually lead to a career (you know, like an engineer of whatever kind). Plus these are some of the brightest and best behaved kids they have.
EVERYTHING WENT OFF WITHOUT A HITCH. It was essentially the sole exhibit at a really cool science fair thingy, and I made sure not to let any of the kids get too close of a look at it. The idea was simple. We got approval from the school and its legal counsel / board of directors, and local police to have the kids bring in plastic water bottles. I would then take those bottles from them, fill those with gas one at a time and with a very small and controlled reaction, propel the water bottle across the football field. In essence, it was a really neat little way to make a plastic water bottle fly a few yards.
Of course, after the fact, and despite getting approval from all the right channels (including the police who showed up to watch cause and supervise, cause it was neat), somebody complained. Blah, blah, blah, bringing things onto school grounds that shouldn't be. Blah blah blah, "explosive" blah blah blah. Blah, blah blah, "hydrogen gas!" blah blah blah. "Think of the children!" Blah blah blah.
So in essence, even getting prior approval from the school board, the school's legal counsel, the local police (who showed up to watch cause it was cool), the principal, and permission slips from the kids' parents isn't enough to essentially do a neato science fair experiment after school for the 24 or so smartest kids in the school...?
Never mind that I have certified expertise in the area, am a super responsible person, and NOTHING BAD HAPPENED / EVERYBODY LOVED IT, that doesn't matter. It seems what does matter is some moron whose kid wasn't even anywhere near having anything to do with any of this complained hysterically.... Fuel of the future that might provide these kids with jobs/free energy whose only byproduct is literally water? Meh.
The local police, who like me and didn't wanna do it, asked me to turn in my Hydroxy Gas Production Unit, and all related chemicals, which I did. It is NOT illegal to do anything that I did, and
there are worse compounds in the class supply cabinet in the school's chemistry supply (caustic acids / alkalines / PH substances, pure sodium, and TONS of other shit waaaaaay worse than anything I wanna get around. There is a reason they have eyewash stations and emergency showers man....) The police officers themselves actually video taped the whole thing (cause again, it was cool). It was basically, as follows. Step One, everybody sits and watches a power point explaining the chemical reactions and applications in simplified form which you could find in Popular Mechanic's magazine, or a widely available online news article, or whatever. Step Two, the kids hand me empty plastic water bottles with their names on them. Step Three, from a good safe distance, everybody watches as the gas filled bottles fly across the football field one at a time. Step Four, the kid whose freaking empty water bottle flew the furthest, got some kinda prize like candy or something, from the teacher. Once again, not a single bad thing happened.
O, I'll be perfectly fine, and I'm gonna get it back if I have to sue, but this is bullshit.
This is why we can't have nice things.
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Topic: Things that made you go "WTF?" today o_O (Read 14908332 times)