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RE- Re: Unpotting my Neon (d-limonene)


From: 	Robert Michaels[SMTP:robert.michaels-at-online.sme-dot-org]
Sent: 	Friday, November 07, 1997 4:56 PM
To: 	tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: 	RE- Re: Unpotting my Neon (started today)

        I'm not much for the hillbilly approach to Tesla-ing which
        seems to appeal to so many of you on This List, but I make
        an exception here:

        Forget d-limonene.

        Go down to the corner and get your self 5-gallons of
        gasoline at about $6-US -- all the better if it's high-
        octane.

                                - - - - - -

        d-limonene is not really expensive, but it's a lot more
        so than gasoline.   Then there's the matter of shipping.
        And it's  =quite=  flammable (tho perhaps somewhat less
        so than gasoline -- it is a bit less volatile at any
        given temperature).

                d-limonene has been considered as an engine
                fuel (During the oil panic/stampede of ca. 1975-76).
                It will run most gasoline engines.

        d-limonene is very reactive chemically.  It will burst
        into flame spontaneously upon contact with nitrating
        acid (a mixture of 2 parts sulfuric acid and 1 part
        nitric acid).  Fun -- for the feeble-minded.

        But hey -- it smells really good.  Kind of lemon-y,
        actually sort of fruity (like those who insist on
        using it to de-pot neons).


                                        Seeking sanity (but to
                                        what avail?), in --
                                        Detroit, USA

                                        Robert Michaels


        P.S.:  For you who are utterly unpersuaded (or readers
               of alt.pyrotechnics), d-limonene is available from
               many of the usual suppliers of laboratory chemicals
               and of industrial solvents.  Try McKesson & Robbins
               (a large national distributor with many branches in
               major cities), else the "Yellow Pages" or "Thomas'
               Register"  (yeah, yeah, that again).


TL>From:  Edward V. Phillips[SMTP:ed-at-alumni.caltech.edu]

TL>"Next, I tried d-Limonene (a lemon oil extract).
TL>Too my surprise, when I put the cores in d-Limonene, the tar just floated
TL>off!!! Amazing!  This is definitely _THE_ solvent for this stuff."
TL>Questions:
TL>1. Does that stuff (d-Limonene) contain water?  I would be afraid that
TL>it does and could damage the windings.
TL>2. Sounds interesting.  Where do you get it and how much does it cost?
TL>Ed