ChrisAtUpw@....... wrote:
> In a message dated 22/07/2005, royb1@........... writes:
> 
>        The carbide idea has some charm (I have a carbide cannon) but
>     careful
>     control of the acetylene-air ratio would be necessary to achieve a
>     detonation.  Electrolysis of water automatically insures stoichiometry.
> 
> Hi Bob,
>  
>     Agreed, but have you worked out how long it would take to get 
> sufficient H2 and O2 by electrolysis and the number of amp hours required?
>     You would need inert electrodes in the water + lime soda?

   Salt water and carbon electrodes would work BUT, as often happens, 
the devil is in the details.  I calc. that to get 1 liter of 
oxy-hydrogen mixture reqires 10 amps for 14 mins.  I think this is 
unworkable.
   The CaC2 scheme should be much better.
>  
>     You know the volume of the bottle and hence the volume of oxygen. 
> You now need to weigh out the right amount of CaC2, tip it in the bottle 
> and wait till it stops fizzling. It would probably be good enough?
> 
>  >    Alternatively, equip your self with some balloons, fill them with
>  > acetylene + oxygen and apply a glowing fuse or cigarette? I
>  > suggest setting the gas torch burning with the correct flame shape, wipe
>  > out the flame and then fill the balloon? 
> 
>    Again, stoichiometry would require careful control of gas-air ratio.
>   Also, balloons are harder to bury than bottles.
>  
>     The way my mind works, I was thinking of using sausage shaped 
> balloons blown up inside a thin cardboard tube. If you light the 
> acetylene flame and adjust the O2 to get a cylindrical blue centre, you 
> have the correct gas ratio. You then push the flame onto a cold flat 
> surface to snuff it out and use the nozzle to fill the balloon? 

   I like this method except that it requires lugging around acetylene 
and oxygen tanks.  Perhaps the balloons could be filled at a central 
site and then taken into the field.
   Another thought pertinent to all these schemes: the top of the gas 
container should be some distance below ground level and dirt packed 
above the container.  This provides directing the force of explosion 
into the ground rather than letting it be expended into the air.  This 
is called "tamping".  See
      http://www.mektonzeta.com/archive/explosives.php
Bob

>  
>     This should work OK. It gets around having to have a license to 
> handle explosives.
>  
>     Regards,
>  
>     Chris Chapman
> 
> 
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