Ninja Vanish Experiment

I have gathered the materials:

Namely potassium nitrate (KNOR) aka stump killer, granulated sugar, self-striking matches, ping pong balls, tape, black powder (Gun Powder), something sharp to do some cutting, a few napkins to hold the substances in and I believe that covers it.

There are alternate versions of this and if you google it you will see that people have different mixtures, some use snappers (the little popping things that you used to throw at each other as kids…or at least I did).  Some folks like to use magnesium powder (no not the kind found in supplements), and different ratios and methods of containment.

Here are the two major links I used to figure out what I was doing:

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Ninja-Impact-Smoke-Bomb

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FKxquZfIuo

Keep in mind I watched tons of videos, some went really well, some went horribly wrong.  Somewhere in the middle of these two is where I decided what to do because one had precise mixtures for the KNOR/sugar mixture that I needed to make, and the other had a containment method (ping pong balls) that worked better than the formers, I was forced to go fully with the chemical mixture from the former because I myself was not able to get my hands on some magnesium powder.

Mixing the potassium nitrate and granulated sugar I used 70% potassium nitrate and sSugar.  I did this via volume, I know this isn’t as accurate as using a scale due to the granule size however the end result was okay.

I also chopped off about 120 match heads and ended up using about 100 in the ping pong ball which I chopped in half and affixed the strike area of the box to the inside of.

I mixed the potassium nitrate and sugar together in a cup and then poured it into a pan at which point I simply stirred over low to medium heat until in browned slightly.  I then removed it and put it in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

I loaded the match-heads into the halves of the ping pong balls attempting to evenly disperse them.

I then put a napkin over the matches so I had a place to put the potassium nitrate/Sugar Mixture and the black powder.

I loaded both halves up with an approximately even mixture of both substances.

I laid a napkin over one of the halves and then flipped it, pressing the two halves together.  Then I took the tape and proceeded to wrap the ball tightly.

I was pleased with the results.  I did opt to go for safety after noting in my lovely suburban abode that there was no where I could safely throw it without a high risk of damaging my or someone else’s property ergo I lit it via fuse rather than throwing it and risking the bounce.

There was a lot of smoke and the smoke was thick!  The flash bang effect at the beginning was really cool.  I don’t think I could have used it as a true vanish device though and I believe I know why.   The smoke was thick and in large quantity however it came out over a longer period of time then I would have liked and in a thin plume from the ping pong ball. In order for the vanish bomb to be more effective I would need a wider area of smoke faster.  In order to accomplish this, hindsight being 20-20, next time I won’t use electrical tape to keep the two sides of the ping pong ball together.  The electrical tape melted in one area and allowed for a slow burn and the ping pong ball was not able to explode apart.  I need to allow oxygen to get to the inside and allow the ball to actually come apart.  The amount and thickness of the smoke I liked, but I would change the tape and possibly the potassium nitrate, black powder ratio… other then that it was fun trying out this new experiment!

Now time to get back to the drawing board.  I’ll build a few more of these guys to post at a later time and then I’ll begin work on my next project!