How do you make flash paper?
To prepare your flash paper, you’ll need to soak it in a nitric and sulfuric acid mixture, then water, then sodium bicarbonate, and finally ethanol. Once the papers have dried, you’ll want to take them to an open environment with no flammable objects around.
Table of Contents
How do you make flash paper?
To prepare your flash paper, you’ll need to soak it in a nitric and sulfuric acid mixture, then water, then sodium bicarbonate, and finally ethanol. Once the papers have dried, you’ll want to take them to an open environment with no flammable objects around.

What is flash paper made of?
Nitrocellulose (also known as cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, pyroxylin and flash string, depending on form) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitric acid and sulfuric acid.
How do you manufacture nitrocellulose?
Production. Nitrocellulose is produced by causing cellulose to react with nitrating acid (a mixture of nitric acid and sulfuric acid).
Where is nitrocellulose found?

In the commercial manufacture of nitrocellulose, wood pulp is the primary source of cellulose. Cellulose sheet and nitrating acids are fed into a reacting vessel, where nitration proceeds until the acids have been centrifuged from the nitrated product.
What could nitrocellulose help you?
Nitrocellulose is used in explosives, rocket propellant, lacquer, flash paper, smokeless gunpowder, leather finishing, as a printing ink base, in coating bookbinding cloth, in laboratory testing films, in ping-pong balls, in pharmaceuticals and in celluloid used for early x-ray, photographic and movie film.
What is the source of nitrocellulose?
What is the price of nitrocellulose?
Quick Overview
Product Name | Price |
---|---|
10831 – Nitrocellulose with Alcohol – 50g NC | $74.95 |
10832 – Nitrocellulose with Alcohol – 100g NC | $124.95 |
How do you make homemade lacquer?
A simple way to make Homemade Lacquer that actually works from two common ingredients. All you need is two simple ingredients: polystyrene foam (like the packing styrofoam that surrounds electronics in the box) and common thinner – all-purpose thinner/lacquer thinner.
Is nitrocellulose the same as lacquer?
Nitrocellulose was adopted quickly by the car industry and remained the finish of choice through to the late-1950s. Furniture and musical instrument manufacturers also switched to nitrocellulose lacquer, and mostly it was referred to simply as ‘lacquer’.
How to prepare nitrocellulose solution?
Nitrocellulose Preparation 1 Chill the acids below 0°C. 2 In a fume hood, mix equal parts nitric and sulfuric acid in a beaker. 3 Drop cotton balls into the acid. 4 Allow the nitration reaction to proceed for about 15 minutes (Schönbein’s time was 2 minutes), then run cold tap water into the beaker to dilute the acid.
Is nitrocellulose flammable?
Nitrocellulose has a low autoignition temperature, so keep it away from heat or flame (until you are ready to activate it). It does not require oxygen to burn, so once it ignites you cannot put out the fire with water. With all that in mind, here’s how you make it. Nitrocellulose is a highly flammable polymer.
Does it take much heat to make flash paper?
It doesn’t take much (either heat or nitrocellulose), so don’t get carried away! If you want actual flash paper, you can nitrate ordinary paper (which is primarily cellulose) in the same manner as cotton. Nitrating cellulose proceeds as nitric acid and cellulose react to produce cellulose nitrate and water.
What is the reaction between nitric acid and cellulose?
Nitrating cellulose proceeds as nitric acid and cellulose react to produce cellulose nitrate and water. Sulfuric acid is not required to nitrate the cellulose, but it acts as a catalyst to produce the nitronium ion, NO 2+.