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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   1480 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 2, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Making your own black powder is entirely legal. IIRC, the manufacture and storage limits are something like 25 pounds before the law requires licensing, though I'd imagine your home insurance might have some objections in the event of a house fire claim. Tutorials on making high-quality powder are available on you tube.

I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice.

The obvious question is then how good is 25 pounds of black powder compared to just driving a car into a group of people?

It's not like you can easily pack it very tightly against a building etc since it's, well, 25 pounds, so just slightly smaller than 2 gallons of water.

I'm no expert, but purely by the numbers, the energy density by volume of TNT is only about 33% higher than that of blackpowder, while TNT's combustion speed is 3-6 times higher. I'm not saying that BP is harmless, but constructing a bomb for terrorism purposes using it instead of modern explosives probably requires a much different design.

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