In view if the discussions of super-oxidizing agents
(hydrogen peroxide and sulphuric acid), I thought I should confess how I
made permanganic acid many years ago, about 1943 when I was 12 years of
age. That was back when you could buy any number of compounds from the
local drugstore outside the Gilbert Chemistry Sets, especially when
one=92s father gave a blanket OK. What a change from today! I don=92t
recall where I learned about permanganic acid but it apparently came
with some caveats about safety: Place no more than four crystals of
potassium permanganate in a test tube and carefully add at arm=92s
length two drops of concentrated sulphuric acid. There was an initial
(explosion?) release of a puff of manganese oxides. A glass rod dipped
into the remaining residue would ignite paper.
I was also
adept in making nitrogen tri-iodide, black gunpowder, and
nitrocellulose. I was smart enough to not try to nitrate glycerin. In
college as a research assignment, I studied mercuric basic bromate, a
very shock sensitive compound. Later on I worked with magnesium in
liquid ammonia.
As I look back on my youth, I am surprised that I
survived. Perhaps it was because very early on I learned through my
father=92s tutelage how important it was to exercise care and
forethought before you acted.
Regards,
Ernie
Lippert