

Things I Won’t Work With: Peroxide Peroxides (2014) - robin_reala
http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/things_i_wont_work_with/

======
radicalbyte
It's a great read, but this has been posted before:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8440486](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8440486)

If you liked it, here are previous discussions over another one of his
articles:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5546450](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5546450)
and
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1148425](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1148425)

------
D-Coder
I am not a chemist, but I love this guy's writing:

"But I have to admit, I'd never thought much about the next analog of hydrogen
peroxide. Instead of having two oxygens in there, why not three: HOOOH?
Indeed, why not? This is a general principle that can be extended to many
other similar situations. Instead of being locked in a self-storage unit with
two rabid wolverines, why not three?"

~~~
Crito
If you can find a copy, you might like the book _Ignition!_ by John Clark
(some libraries have it, and there is a scanned PDF floating around online).
It is about the early development of rocket propellants (which as you might
imagine covers a lot of _really_ nasty chemicals), and is _filled_ with these
sort of humorous analogies and deliberate understatements. Very funny (and
informative) book.

~~~
pchristensen
Only $3K on Amazon right now: [http://smile.amazon.com/Ignition-informal-
history-liquid-pro...](http://smile.amazon.com/Ignition-informal-history-
liquid-propellants/dp/0813507251/)

~~~
dalke
Or free from
[http://library.sciencemadness.org/library/books/ignition.pdf](http://library.sciencemadness.org/library/books/ignition.pdf)
. Not readable (no text displays) with Firefox's PDF.js, but works just fine
with Mac's Preview.app.

~~~
justin66
Totally readable in both Chrome and IE and I bet it works fine in Safari.
Firefox's pdf viewer is apparently worse than being just criminally slow.

~~~
wlesieutre
But hey, at least it's not Acrobat?

------
lutorm
For a fun tour of nasty chemicals, I can recommend "Ignition! An Informal
History of Liquid Rocket Propellants" by John D. Clark. You will learn about
all the nice propellants that were tried back in the 50s and 60s, like FCl_3
and liquid lithium...

Edit: Nm, saw this was already mentioned.

------
Malic
Sounds about as much fun as FOOF:
[http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2010/02/23/things_i_won...](http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2010/02/23/things_i_wont_work_with_dioxygen_difluoride.php)

Joke Q: Where do you look to find chemists that have discovered FOOF on their
own? A: A cemetery.

~~~
tsaoutourpants
The real question is whether we can make FOOOF :)

~~~
wiredfool
Who's this "we" you're talking about?

I'm not sure if FOOF or ClF3 is worse. I'm actually leaning towards ClF3 since
people have actually made large quantities of it.

------
daxelrod
Permalink:
[http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2014/10/10/things_i_won...](http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2014/10/10/things_i_wont_work_with_peroxide_peroxides.php)

------
jszymborski
Totally can sympathize with the title. Open a bottle of an ether with a loose
cap that has had diethyl ether peroxides form on it's rim... you'll have a new
outlook on the situation.

(Diethyl ether peroxide is a contact explosive)

~~~
pdkl95
My intro inorganic-chem class had the _best_ safety video, described as one
"Dr Anxiety". Among other thing like a glass tube being into a stopper that
ended with blood spraying everywhere, it had someone in a lab coat pick up a
1L reagent bottle off a shelf, eye it for a while, and say, "Hmm.. I haven't
used this in a while, but I'm sure it's still good.". As soon as they turned
the cap, it exploded into a giant fireball, complete with the lab guy running
around on fire. Rewinding and pausing the video revealed that it was diethyl
ether.

I kind of wish I could find a copy of that safety video....

~~~
estevez
This one?
[http://youtu.be/0zHev9iM8kU?t=20m26s](http://youtu.be/0zHev9iM8kU?t=20m26s)

~~~
pdkl95
That's part of it, thanks! (the instructor might have pieced together footage
from a few videos. The glass tube+stopper scene is definitely the one I was
remembering)

------
stox
Reminds me of Ted Taylor: [http://www.amazon.com/The-Curve-Binding-Energy-
Alarming/dp/0...](http://www.amazon.com/The-Curve-Binding-Energy-
Alarming/dp/0374515980)

He didn't stop with the high explosives, he went Nuclear!

------
darylteo
I understood some of those words (failed highschool chem)

------
Mz
Unfortunately, I cannot open this. I keep getting some fatal error.

~~~
gus_massa
The Corante bloging site that host the Pipeline blog has a problem with IE.
Try to open it with Chrome or Firefox

~~~
Mz
That would explain it. Thanks.

