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New Chemist wanting to learn

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marker227:
Hi all.  My name is Mark and I am 15.  I think mixing things and making cool stuff is fun.  I didn't get a class yet so I am getting started now.  I want to make a smoke bomb.  What I need to know is, is it safe to melt sugar to potassium nitrate?  If not please provide a correct solution.

Is zinc powder dangerous?

How do you solidify powders like engine powder into a thick block?

Where can I buy sulfur and some other less dangerous chemicals?

Any other experiements I would enjoy?  Thanks a lot.  I also need sort of a buddy to help me so I don't burn down my house like my mom thinks.  :)

Feel free to contact me anyway you'd like.  I really want to learn.  Beakers and tubes are so cool hehe.

Mitch:
You can't melt sugar to potassium nitrate. Totalyy different substances. You can buy pure sulfur from a pharmacy or less pure sulfur from a gun shop.

marker227:
If you can't melt them together then when some instructions say "Heat pan on low and stir untill the sugar melts then mix it together to potassium nitrate.  Do I melt the sugar?

Do you know what dangers zinc powder has?

"Quote"
yes...just use salt peter and sugar

[edited for content]

"Quote"

marker227:
Is that hypotsesis correct?  Anyone.

Corvettaholic:
I really don't know. But I'm scared of nitrates for the explosion hazard, I don't have enough to know how to play with anything with the word 'nitrate' in it. Ever burned straight sugar before? Filled my kitchen with smoke and it was a really overpowering smell. I imagine if you add sulfur to it, it'll actually stink. So why not just mix sulfur and cane sugar together and light that? The actual ratio's... well.. not to sure. I'm sure you can set up a balanced equation and figure out the proper masses for the reactants to get an optimal reaction. Others here know a lot more about the math part than I do though.

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