dimeric acetone peroxide question

[Azmirth]

after adding acetone and hydrogen peroxide together, i let it cool down in my ice bath. I then added hydrochloric acid, but i squeezed too hard and about 10ml came out and heated up the beaker to about luke warm... i imediatly put it in the ice bath and then didnt add anymore acid. My question is: did i form dimer, or did i act fast enough to save it from forming dimer form?

extra notes:
the amounts were 50ml (h202 30%) 60 ml ( acetone 90-100%) and 10ml (HCl 38%)

flame tests while wet: made some poofing noises and burnt really fast
hammer tests while wet: exploded with a crack (3hits)

please help me diagnose this problem ASAP

[willi-wurm]

most people dont get their reactions wrong, the dimer forms when its drying/ forming those smelly crystals, causing a mixture of dimer and trimer. though the heated reaction could favour the formation of the former.

how are you drying it? if you can, neutralize it with bicarb, and take a larger vessel, put a smaller vessel in the middle, and put your AP around the vessel in the middle. now, get some seethrough wrapper [like the stuff used for wrapping up sandwiches, you know, the seethrough plastic stuff] and spread it over the larger vessel. now take a small weight, and place it so the lowest point is over the small vessel.

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentor...hem_img022.jpg

just imagine that it would go smoothly down, and not have a waterbottle shape xD
now, store this in your fridge (not freezer!) and let it dry. this will help you to reduce the formation of dimeric crystals.

i have only done it once. but it makes sense if your scared about dimeric formation.



did you measure the temperature?

[Azmirth]

yah it helped thnx, the ice bath temp was 6Celcius, i nutrilized with sodium hydroxide and let it evaporate, so far ive done tests and it seems to be fine, but there is no way t really tell, is there?

[willi-wurm]

id suggest not to neutralize with NaOH, because some heat is produced when the granules react. anyway, isnt baking soda cheaper?


and no, there arent any tests you can make. some people test it with hammer whacks, but thats not controlled, because everyone has a different power, you know.

somewhere i read about dimeric floats and trimeric sinks... anyone hear about that?

[Azmirth]

yah i know what you mean, i thought of trying the float test, but i dont think it works too well. if the dimeric acualy floats, the trimeric on top of it will cause it to sink...
and the NaOH nutrilizes faster, in my opinion and you have to use less of it.
yah i dont think i could care about heat during filtration process, it not like im pouring boiling water over it. ( which probably still wouldn't detonate it)