- Get a DC convertor like the one used on a train set. Cut the
connector off, separate the wires, and strip them both.
- Now you need a jar of water with a tablespoon or so of sodium
chloride (which is SALT!) added to it. This makes the water
conductive.
- Now insert both wires into the mixture (I am assuming you
plugged the convertor in...) and let them sit for five minutes.
One of them will start bubbling more than the other. This is the
POSITIVE(+) wire. If you do not do this test right, the final
product will be the opposite (chemically) of rust, which is RUST
ACID. You have no use for this here (although it IS useful!).
- Anyway, put the nail tied to the positive wire into the jar. Now
put the negative wire in the other end. Now let it sit overnight
and in the morning scrape the rust off of the nail & repeat until
you got a bunch of rust on the bottom of the glass. Be generous
with your rust collection.
- Now remove the excess water and pour the crusty solution onto a
cookie sheet. Dry it in the sun for a few hours, or inside
overnight. It should be an orange-brown color
- Crush the rust into a fine powder and heat it in a cast-iron pot
until it is red. Now mix the pure iron oxide with pure alluminum
filinos which can be bought or filed down by hand from an aluminum
tube or bar. The ratio or iron oxide to aluminum is 8 grams to 3
grams.
- Congrats! You have just made THERMITE!
