Make Flash Paper

In this video we nitrate some 100% cotton paper to make Flash Paper. The flash paper is used in magic shows and other events. This reaction uses very strong and dangerous acids that can burn and blind you. This should only be performed by a knowledgeable chemist. The paper can be purchased at Office Depot.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Flash Paper
• Flashpaper
• make flash paper
• Nitrocellulose
• make Nitrocellulose
• chemistry

[tybo09]

Any idea what is going on when the paper turns to goo?

[myst32YT]

@tybo09 Is the paper 100% Cotton? How long are you leaving it in?

[TakronRust]

I don't know if you know why it clears, but it's because nitric acid oxidizes carbon so the carbon turns to it's oxide constituents and dissolves into solution and gasses out partially. If I remember correctly.

[myst32YT]

@TakronRust No i did not know that... Thanks... I have been wondering what was going on.

[toothpick93]

could you substitute the paper with 100% cotton?

[myst32YT]

@toothpick93 Sure.... any cotton object will work fine.

[donnelrj01]

You could use tissue paper, leave the cotton/nitrating mix for longer and do a final wash in a stabilizing solution of some sort. Depends what the final use is though.

[SWATAIRSOFT24]

who else had the volume on high and you hit the mute button as he said HELLO EVERYONE!!

[Agentoxedo07]

Holy-Terrorist:>*=* In 0:12 cellulose are southworth!

I speak french and little english.

[Agentoxedo07]

@mcwario13 Holy-Terrorist:>*=* Hydrochloric is not used for it, is confusion with a hydrochloric acid is used to catalyze acetone peroxide[TATP], sulfuric acid are desiccant of hydrochloric acid are volatile not sulfuric acid!

I speak french and little english.

[mcwario13]

which is stronger, nitric acid sulfuric acid or hydrochloric acid???

[brnhalo3]

This is why I am failing chemistry...

[steve66oh]

Can you nitrate caffeine? I found web refs to 8-nitrocaffeine, a single NO2 added to the bare C ... but caffeine has 3 (CH3) groups, where the 9 H's could be replaced by 9 more NO2s, giving (I think..) C8N14O22. Interestingly, one ref to 8-nitrocaffeine said they used nitric acid in glacial acetic acid, another said that exposing caffeine to nitric acid created nitrocaffeine plus "a resinous substance", and long exposure made "another crystallizable substance not yet examined"

[gogo311]

You can make cellulose perchlorate if you add 70% sulfuric acid (be careful to not make it more than 70%!) to KClO4 and put cotton in it. It is dangerously sensitive, only do it on a small scale

[argoneum]

@tybo09 Probably not all acids are removed with washing, and they hydrolyse the (nitro)cellulose. I tried using cotton pads instead of paper, and it's very difficult to wash out all the residual acids, so I used some sodium bicarbonate to neutralize them. I stored the nitrated pads for a longer time (a year or so), and they were quite stable.

Also, they burnt quite faster than paper :)

[kickman199811011]

you really do know your science. but what makes a molecule burn brighter or dimmer when it makes fire.

[SoumyaSumitra]

Hey cool, in some videos i saw using road flare powder and white sprit... Can i use contents of a cracker...

[Johnsavag]

If you know, how can you calculate the volumes for a nitration acid? I would assume stoichiometrically, with nitric and sulfuric making the NO2+ ion, HSO4- ion and water?