The recently posted video shows actually not the combustion of hexamine with KNO3, it shows the combustion of hexamine with AgNO3. I was confident, it would work equally with KNO3, but this seems not the case. I did several tests with KNO3 and hexamine today. If the KNO3 ratio is too high, it can not be lit, if the hexamine ratio is high enough, it can be lit but burns as usual as it would burn with atmospheric oxygen and without additional oxidizer. I made sure in using really KNO3, producing small amounts of candy propellant and blackpowder with the same substance. Both worked fine.
My suspicion is that hexamine can not be oxidized with alkali metal nitrates. The question is now, why? Any suggestions are welcome!
Two further experiments were performed today:
Experiment#1
Heat up a pinch of hexamine and KNO3 in a test tube till the mixture melts. Continue 30 seconds to heat up the mixture. Let the mixture cool down. Solve the residuum in distilled water. Measure the pH-value. Compare the pH-value of the same amount of pure hexamine, solved in the same amount of distilled water.
Result: Reaction is endothermic. The pH-value of the residuum solution is higher than the pH-value of the hexamine solution. Solution greasy. Indication of KOH?
Experiment#2
Add a few drops of saturated CuSO4 solution to the solved hexamine/KNO3 reaction product.
Result: A green-blue copper salt precipitates:
This could be another indication of the existence of KOH:
CuSO4 + 2 KOH --> Cu(OH)2 + K2SO4
Author: M. Bindhammer, Team Selene
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