Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Nitrocellulose shopping experience:
1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Nitrocellulose offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Nitrocellulose at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.
2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about
3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Nitrocellulose? Wrong! If the Nitrocellulose is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.
4. Questions - Got a question about Nitrocellulose then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....
5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Nitrocellulose? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Nitrocellulose and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.
6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Nitrocellulose wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.
7. Feedback - happy with your Nitrocellulose then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.
8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Nitrocellulose site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site
9. Contact - got a question about Nitrocellulose, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.
10. Payment - ready to pay for your Nitrocellulose, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.
of nitrocellulose of a section of nitrocellulose
Nitrocellulose (also:
cellulose nitrate,
flash paper) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating
cellulose through, for example, exposure to nitric acid or another powerful nitrating agent. When used as a
propellant or
Explosive#Low explosives, it is also known as
guncotton.
Uses
- Nitrocellulose is a major component of smokeless powder (also see the section on guncotton below).
- Early Photographic film, especially Black-and-white prior to 1948.
- Nitrocellulose membrane or nitrocellulose paper is a sticky artificial membrane used for Western blots and immobilizing DNA. It is also used for immobilization of proteins, due to its non-specific affinity for amino acids. Nitrocellulose is widely used as support in diagnostic tests where antigen-antibody binding occur, e.g. pregnancy tests, U-Albumin tests and CRP.
- When dissolved in diethyl ether or other organic solvents, the solution is called collodion, which has been used as a wound dressing and carrier of topical medications since the U.S. Civil War. To this day it is used in Compound W Wart Remover as a carrier of salicylic acid, the active ingredient.
- Collodion was also used as the carrier for silver salts in some very early photography emulsions, particularly spread in thin layers on glass plates.
- Magic (illusion)'s "flash paper", sheets of paper or cloth made from nitrocellulose, which burn almost instantly, with a bright flash, and leave no ash.
- Nail polish
- Hair coloring
- Radon tests for alpha track etches
- Nitrocellulose lacquer, often mistakenly referred to as "Nitro", was used as a finish on guitars for most of the 20th century and is still used on some current applications. Manufactured by (among others) Dupont, the paint was also used on automobiles sharing the same color codes as many guitars, primarily Fender brands of guitars.
- Nitrocellulose lacquer is also used as an aircraft dope, painted onto fabric-covered aircraft to tauten and provide protection to the material.
- As a transportation medium for one-time pads, thus making the disposal of the pad complete, secure, and efficient.
Guncotton
Henri Braconnot discovered in 1832 that nitric acid, when combined with starch or wood fibers, would produce a lightweight combustible
explosive material which he named
xyloïdine. A few years later in 1838 another French chemist
Théophile-Jules Pelouze (teacher of
Ascanio Sobrero and Alfred Nobel) treated paper and cardboard in the same way. He obtained a similar material he called
nitramidine. Both of these substances were highly unstable, and were not practical explosives.
However,
Christian Friedrich Schönbein, a German-Swiss chemist, discovered a more practical solution around 1846. As he was working in the kitchen of his home in Basle, he spilled a bottle of concentrated nitric acid on the kitchen table. He reached for the nearest cloth, a cotton apron, and wiped it up. He hung the apron on the stove door to dry, and as soon as it was dry there was a flash as the apron exploded. His preparation method was the first to be widely imitated — one part of fine
cotton wool to be immersed in fifteen parts of an equal blend of Sulfuric acid and
Nitric acid acids. After two minutes the cotton was removed and washed in cold water to set the
esterification level and remove all acid residue. It was then slowly dried at a temperature below 100°Celsius.Schönbein collaborated with the Frankfurt professor Rudolf Böttger, who had discovered the process independently in the same year. By a strange coincidence there was even a third chemist, the Braunschweig professor F. J. Otto, who had also produced guncotton in 1846 and was the first to publish the process, much to the disenchantment of Schönbeim and Böttger. (Itzehoer Wochenblatt, 29 October 1846, columns 1626 f.)
The process uses the nitric acid to convert the cellulose into cellulose nitrite and water:
2HNO3+ C6H10O5 → C6H8(NO2)2O5 + 2H2O
The sulfuric acid is present to prevent the water produced in the reaction from diluting the concentrated nitric acid.
The power of guncotton made it suitable for blasting. As a projectile driver, it has around six times the gas generation of an equal volume of black powder and produces less smoke and less heating. However the sensitivity of the material during production led the
United Kingdom, Prussians and
France to discontinue manufacture within a year.
Jules Verne viewed the development of guncotton with optimism. He referred to the substance several times in his novels. His adventurers carried firearms employing this substance. Most notably, in his
From the Earth to the Moon, guncotton was used to launch a projectile into space.
Further research indicated that the key was the very careful preparation of the cotton: unless it was very well cleaned and dried, it was likely to explode spontaneously. The British, led by Frederick Augustus Abel, also developed a much lengthier manufacturing process at the Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills, patented in 1865, with the washing and drying times each extended to 48 hours and repeated eight times over. The acid mixture was also changed to two parts sulfuric acid to one part nitric.
Guncotton remained useful only for limited applications. For
firearms, a more stable and slower burning mixture would be needed. Guncotton-like preparations were eventually prepared for this role, known at the time as smokeless powder.
Guncotton, dissolved at approximately 25% in acetone, forms a lacquer used in preliminary stages of wood finishing to develop a hard finish with a deep luster. It is normally the first coat applied, sanded, and followed by other coatings that bond to it.
Nitrate film
Nitrocellulose was used as the first flexible
film base, beginning with Eastman Kodak products in August,
1889. Camphor is used as
plasticizer for nitrocellulose film. It was used until
1933 for
X-ray films (where its flammability hazard was most acute) and for motion picture film until 1951. It was replaced by
safety film with an acetate base.
The use of nitrocellulose film for motion pictures led to a widespread requirement for fireproof projection rooms with wall coverings made of
asbestos. Famously, the US Navy shot a training film for projectionists which included footage of a controlled ignition of a reel of nitrate film which continued to burn even when fully submerged in water. Due to public safety precautions, the London Underground forbade transport of nitrate films on its system until well past the introduction of safety film. A cinema fire caused by ignition of nitrocellulose film stock (foreshadowed by an earlier small fire) was a central plot element in the Italy
film Cinema Paradiso. Today nitrate film projection is usually highly regulated and requires extensive precautionary measures including extra projectionist health and safety training. Additionally, projectors certified to run nitrate films have many containment strategies in effect. Among them, this includes the chambering of both the feed and takeup reels in thick metal covers with small slits to allow the film to run through. Furthermore, the projector is modified to accommodate several fire extinguishers with nozzles all aimed directly at the film gate; the extinguishers automatically trigger if a piece of flammable fabric placed near the gate starts to burn. While this triggering would likely damage or destroy a significant portion of the projection components, it would prevent a devastating fire which almost certainly would cause far greater damage.
It was discovered decades later that nitrocellulose gradually decomposes, releasing nitric acid which further catalyzes the decomposition (usually into a still-flammable powder or goo). Low temperatures can delay these reactions indefinitely. It is estimated that the great majority of films produced during the early twentieth century were lost forever either through this accelerating, self-catalyzed disintegration or studio warehouse fires. Salvaging old films is a major problem for film archivists (see
film preservation).
Nitrocellulose film base manufactured by
Kodak can be identified by the presence of the word
Nitrate in dark letters between the perforations. Acetate film manufactured during the era when nitrate films were still in use was marked
Safety or
Safety Film between the perforations dark letters. Letters in white or light colors are print-through from the negative.
Color negative film was never manufactured with a nitrate base, nor were 8 mm film or 16 mm film motion picture film stocks.
Other uses
Depending on the manufacturing process, nitrocellulose is esterified to varying degrees.
Table tennis balls, guitar picks and some photographic films have a fairly low esterification level and burn comparatively slowly with some charred residue. See celluloid.
In professional_wrestling, nitrocellulose, in the form of a small piece of flash paper, in used to execute an illegal move called a
Fireball. The wrestler sets the piece of quick-burning paper alight (using a conceiled lighter) and throws it at the opponent, giving the impression of a supernatural ball of fire emerging from their hand.
Mythbusters
An episode of
Mythbusters involved guncotton being fired inside of a miniature cannon. When the formula was revealed, sulfuric and nitric acids were censored by animal noises, and the two final steps were not included.
See also
External links
- Pictures of a projector after a nitrate film fire
Nitrocellulose Paper Video (aka:Flash paper)
of nitrocellulose of a section of nitrocellulose
Nitrocellulose (also:
cellulose nitrate,
flash paper) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through, for example, exposure to nitric acid or another powerful nitrating agent. When used as a propellant or Explosive#Low explosives, it is also known as
guncotton.
Uses
- Nitrocellulose is a major component of smokeless powder (also see the section on guncotton below).
- Early Photographic film, especially Black-and-white prior to 1948.
- Nitrocellulose membrane or nitrocellulose paper is a sticky artificial membrane used for Western blots and immobilizing DNA. It is also used for immobilization of proteins, due to its non-specific affinity for amino acids. Nitrocellulose is widely used as support in diagnostic tests where antigen-antibody binding occur, e.g. pregnancy tests, U-Albumin tests and CRP.
- When dissolved in diethyl ether or other organic solvents, the solution is called collodion, which has been used as a wound dressing and carrier of topical medications since the U.S. Civil War. To this day it is used in Compound W Wart Remover as a carrier of salicylic acid, the active ingredient.
- Collodion was also used as the carrier for silver salts in some very early photography emulsions, particularly spread in thin layers on glass plates.
- Magic (illusion)'s "flash paper", sheets of paper or cloth made from nitrocellulose, which burn almost instantly, with a bright flash, and leave no ash.
- Nail polish
- Hair coloring
- Radon tests for alpha track etches
- Nitrocellulose lacquer, often mistakenly referred to as "Nitro", was used as a finish on guitars for most of the 20th century and is still used on some current applications. Manufactured by (among others) Dupont, the paint was also used on automobiles sharing the same color codes as many guitars, primarily Fender brands of guitars.
- Nitrocellulose lacquer is also used as an aircraft dope, painted onto fabric-covered aircraft to tauten and provide protection to the material.
- As a transportation medium for one-time pads, thus making the disposal of the pad complete, secure, and efficient.
Guncotton
Henri Braconnot discovered in 1832 that nitric acid, when combined with starch or wood fibers, would produce a lightweight combustible
explosive material which he named
xyloïdine. A few years later in 1838 another French chemist
Théophile-Jules Pelouze (teacher of Ascanio Sobrero and Alfred Nobel) treated paper and cardboard in the same way. He obtained a similar material he called
nitramidine. Both of these substances were highly unstable, and were not practical explosives.
However,
Christian Friedrich Schönbein, a German-Swiss chemist, discovered a more practical solution around 1846. As he was working in the kitchen of his home in Basle, he spilled a bottle of concentrated nitric acid on the kitchen table. He reached for the nearest cloth, a cotton apron, and wiped it up. He hung the apron on the stove door to dry, and as soon as it was dry there was a flash as the apron exploded. His preparation method was the first to be widely imitated — one part of fine cotton wool to be immersed in fifteen parts of an equal blend of Sulfuric acid and Nitric acid acids. After two minutes the cotton was removed and washed in cold water to set the esterification level and remove all acid residue. It was then slowly dried at a temperature below 100°
Celsius.Schönbein collaborated with the Frankfurt professor Rudolf Böttger, who had discovered the process independently in the same year. By a strange coincidence there was even a third chemist, the Braunschweig professor F. J. Otto, who had also produced guncotton in 1846 and was the first to publish the process, much to the disenchantment of Schönbeim and Böttger. (Itzehoer Wochenblatt, 29 October 1846, columns 1626 f.)
The process uses the nitric acid to convert the cellulose into cellulose nitrite and water:
2HNO3+ C6H10O5 → C6H8(NO2)2O5 + 2H2O
The sulfuric acid is present to prevent the water produced in the reaction from diluting the concentrated nitric acid.
The power of guncotton made it suitable for blasting. As a projectile driver, it has around six times the gas generation of an equal volume of
black powder and produces less smoke and less heating. However the sensitivity of the material during production led the United Kingdom,
Prussians and
France to discontinue manufacture within a year.
Jules Verne viewed the development of guncotton with optimism. He referred to the substance several times in his novels. His adventurers carried firearms employing this substance. Most notably, in his
From the Earth to the Moon, guncotton was used to launch a projectile into space.
Further research indicated that the key was the very careful preparation of the cotton: unless it was very well cleaned and dried, it was likely to explode spontaneously. The British, led by Frederick Augustus Abel, also developed a much lengthier manufacturing process at the Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills, patented in 1865, with the washing and drying times each extended to 48 hours and repeated eight times over. The acid mixture was also changed to two parts sulfuric acid to one part nitric.
Guncotton remained useful only for limited applications. For
firearms, a more stable and slower burning mixture would be needed. Guncotton-like preparations were eventually prepared for this role, known at the time as smokeless powder.
Guncotton, dissolved at approximately 25% in acetone, forms a lacquer used in preliminary stages of wood finishing to develop a hard finish with a deep luster. It is normally the first coat applied, sanded, and followed by other coatings that bond to it.
Nitrate film
Nitrocellulose was used as the first flexible
film base, beginning with
Eastman Kodak products in August,
1889. Camphor is used as plasticizer for nitrocellulose film. It was used until
1933 for X-ray films (where its flammability hazard was most acute) and for motion picture film until
1951. It was replaced by
safety film with an acetate base.
The use of nitrocellulose film for motion pictures led to a widespread requirement for fireproof projection rooms with wall coverings made of asbestos. Famously, the US Navy shot a training film for projectionists which included footage of a controlled ignition of a reel of nitrate film which continued to burn even when fully submerged in water. Due to public safety precautions, the London Underground forbade transport of nitrate films on its system until well past the introduction of safety film. A cinema fire caused by ignition of nitrocellulose film stock (foreshadowed by an earlier small fire) was a central plot element in the Italy
film Cinema Paradiso. Today nitrate film projection is usually highly regulated and requires extensive precautionary measures including extra projectionist health and safety training. Additionally, projectors certified to run nitrate films have many containment strategies in effect. Among them, this includes the chambering of both the feed and takeup reels in thick metal covers with small slits to allow the film to run through. Furthermore, the projector is modified to accommodate several fire extinguishers with nozzles all aimed directly at the film gate; the extinguishers automatically trigger if a piece of flammable fabric placed near the gate starts to burn. While this triggering would likely damage or destroy a significant portion of the projection components, it would prevent a devastating fire which almost certainly would cause far greater damage.
It was discovered decades later that nitrocellulose gradually decomposes, releasing nitric acid which further catalyzes the decomposition (usually into a still-flammable powder or goo). Low temperatures can delay these reactions indefinitely. It is estimated that the great majority of films produced during the early twentieth century were lost forever either through this accelerating, self-catalyzed disintegration or studio warehouse fires. Salvaging old films is a major problem for film archivists (see
film preservation).
Nitrocellulose film base manufactured by
Kodak can be identified by the presence of the word
Nitrate in dark letters between the perforations. Acetate film manufactured during the era when nitrate films were still in use was marked
Safety or
Safety Film between the perforations dark letters. Letters in white or light colors are print-through from the negative.
Color negative film was never manufactured with a nitrate base, nor were
8 mm film or
16 mm film motion picture film stocks.
Other uses
Depending on the manufacturing process, nitrocellulose is esterified to varying degrees. Table tennis balls,
guitar picks and some photographic films have a fairly low esterification level and burn comparatively slowly with some charred residue. See
celluloid.
In
professional_wrestling, nitrocellulose, in the form of a small piece of flash paper, in used to execute an illegal move called a
Fireball. The wrestler sets the piece of quick-burning paper alight (using a conceiled lighter) and throws it at the opponent, giving the impression of a supernatural ball of fire emerging from their hand.
Mythbusters
An episode of Mythbusters involved guncotton being fired inside of a miniature cannon. When the formula was revealed, sulfuric and nitric acids were censored by animal noises, and the two final steps were not included.
See also
External links
- Pictures of a projector after a nitrate film fire
Nitrocellulose Paper Video (aka:Flash paper)
Nitrocellulose - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
edit] Uses. Nitrocellulose is a major component of smokeless gunpowder (also see the section on guncotton below). Early photographic film, especially 35mm motion picture film prior ...
Nitrocellulose from Nobel Enterprises - Company Profile
Nitrocellulose from Nobel Enterprises. Offering the combination of durability, compatibility and unsurpassed drying speed, Nitrocellulose remains one of the most widely used and ...
nitrocellulose - Hutchinson encyclopedia article about nitrocellulose
cellulose nitrate. Series of esters of cellulose with up to three nitrate (NO 3) groups per monosaccharide unit. It is made by the action of concentrated nitric acid on cellulose ...
Nitrocellulose from Nobel Enterprises - Printing Inks
Nitrocellulose from Nobel Enterprises. Offering the combination of durability, compatibility and unsurpassed drying speed, Nitrocellulose remains one of the most widely used and ...
Cranfield University and AWE - Nitrocellulose Workshop
This website will provide an excellent opportunity to share knowledge and experiences in the areas of nitrocellulose formulation, assessment of the impact of using new ...
nitrocellulose - definition of nitrocellulose in the Medical ...
nitrocellulose /ni·tro·cel·lu·lose/ (ni?tro-sel´ul-os) pyroxylin. ni·tro·cel·lu·lose (n tr-s l y-l s, -l z) n. See cellulose nitrate. nitrocellulose
DuPont Heritage: Nitrocellulose
Although initially used in the manufacture of smokeless powder, DuPont’s nitrocellulose production led to the company’s diversification into non-explosive ...
Nitrocellulose lacquer aerosols for guitar refinishing and building
Nitrocellulose lacuqer for sale for finishing guitars ... Skip to navigation. Nitrocellulose lacquer in aerosols. I offer aerosols of nitrocellulose lacquer in a number of colours ...
Nitrocellulose Membranes
Thermocycler, Electrophoresis, Gel documentation, Hybridisation, Laboratory equipment: Biometra - Göttingen, Germany
Definition: nitrocellulose from Online Medical Dictionary
The Online Medical Dictionary is a searchable dictionary of definitions from medicine, science and technology.
