Post by Rich (aka Old Dog)Post by miserylandPost by Rich (aka Old Dog)Post by RussRich,
Haven't you ever heard of Natural Selection?
Russ
Like India doesn't have enough problems...
-Rich
true however K bromate IS safe on one condition imho
they are OK if they are used in stars with high velocity high altitude
launches AND as long as they are used in open ventilation AND in
reliable(?) devices, i have used it safely however i would strongly
caution anyone using it in experimental (or unpredictable) devices.
Considering I have personally seen shells made by very experienced pyrotechnists
blow up guns in the ground, rockets made by LONG-time rocket builders CATO in
the racks, etc. etc. I think "unpredictable" pretty much covers everything we
do. The point is that there are perfectly acceptable and far safer oxidizers
available - there's no reason to use highly toxic materials "just to be
different" at a far higher level of risk.
-Rich
I'm not sure how "highly toxic" potassium bromate is as compared to potassium
chlorate - I'd not care to eat much of either. As for the decomposition
products, in normal circumstances free Br would NOT be produced. Just as
potassium chlorate (in the absence of sulphur) decomposes to potassium chloride
and oxygen, potassium bromate should decompose to potassium bromide and oxygen.
Even if free Br existed in the flame, as free Cl sometimes does, it would not
persist once combustion ceased.
Potassium bromide is not particularly toxic - it used, at least, to be employed
as a sedative (hence the soubriquet "a bromide" to describe a boring cliché).
Either it or sodium bromide were in the popular remedy "Bromo Seltzer," although
I think this is no longer the case. Dosages up to gr. xxx (approx. 2 grammes)
were therapeutically used. Toxic dosage, called bromism, causes problems
including bromitic acne, nervous disorders, and hallucinations, but is the
consequence of chronic overuse. Evelyn Waugh's novel "The Ordeal of Gilbert
Pinfold" is a thinly disguised autobiographical account of its author's
overreliance on a chloral hydrate and bromide sedative - quite harrowing and
oddly funny at the same time.
All this being said - why would anyone want to use so expensive a chemical as
potassium bromate when the chlorate and perchlorate are so much more readily and
cheaply available? The properties of these chemicals are well enough understood
and - much anti-chlorate hooplah to the contrary - it is quite possible to
preclude the obvious hazards. The necessary good housekeeping, careful handling,
and avoidance of incompatible mixtures are simple procedures to implement.
That you can make potassium bromate work as an oxidizer is established, but
other than to demonstrate that fact again, there is little economic or aesthetic
reason to use it in fireworks.