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Sam Barros injury update

<<<< This is a very long and very off subject post.  However I am posting
the full text as a reminder of how quickly very serious accidents can
happen to amateur experimenters.  Very bad accidents can happen to any of
us regardless of our area of interest.  Of course, follow up posts
concerning plasma engines, rocket fuels, microwave guns, and the safety of
such things will be rejected for being off this list's subject of Tesla
coils.  I also ask that kind get well comments and such be sent directly to
Sam <sambarros-at-hotmail-dot-com>.  We all wish Sam a speedy recovery and hope he
gets back to coiling ASAP! - Terry >>>>  
	

okay folks, i finally got ahold of Sam. turns out he is okay... well,
sort of.  Here is the story. (reprinted with permission):


<Fernanda>  Ok.. As I was saying, I came to a point where there wasn't
much I could do for my plasma engine. With my TC lacking a transformer
and my microwave gun finished..
<Fernanda>  So I decided to do some experiments with chemical rockets..
I was going to develop a test bay for my plasma engine an tune it with
th chmical rocket.
<Fernanda>
<Fernanda>  The fuel I decided to use was "Peroxyacetone" Evil stuff!
Very Very bad idea...
<Fernanda> What happens is that that stuff has a large, dense molecule
with several chemical bonds. Uppon heating, the chemical bonds break
down, releasing energy and gases: Hydrogen and Oxygen... Than those two
combine, releasing more energy... The process is very fast and releases
several times more energy than gunpowder. Also, no solid residue is
left, so thre is very little waste of energy and power density...
<Fernanda>  Ok... Onto the accident...

<Fernanda>  I found a way to make peroxyacetone. It involves nailpolish
remover and hair bleach... I used hydrocholic acid as a catalyst and
sodium bicarbonate in solution as th neutraliser...
<Fernanda>  It yielded some 30 grams of white crystals. Thy have no
taste or smell and are chemically inert and not soluble in water.
<Fernanda>  I would like it... Than I don't have to type it all again..
<Fernanda>  Allwright... So after some research, chemical calculations
and testing, I came up with the best, cheapest and easiest way to make
peroxyacetone.
<Fernanda>  So, the next thing to do was obviously test it. I wanted to
be SURE that what I was dealing with was safe. I really wanted to be
sure than I knew what I was doing.
<Fernanda>  For 2 days I ran tests on the stuff... I had it crushed,
compressed, molten, microwaved, elecryfied, I did ignition tests, impact
tests, etc...
<Fernanda>  I was ABSOLUTELY SURE that it would NOT ignite unless a very
hot source of ignition came into contact with it.
<Fernanda> And that was my mistake:-(
<Fernanda>  You see, after my tests I became too confident of my
results...I thought it would't ignit if it was dropped ot crushed. And,
uppon ignition, it deflagrates: DEcomposes rapidly BUT not faster than
sound. For it to explode it woul have to be confined, just like gun
powder. Of course, if the crystals were molten it woul explode without
confinement whatsoever, but it melted at a couple hundred degrees, so
That was not an issue in my experiments... Molten, it behaved like
nitroglycerine. One teaspoon will blast a hole right trough one mm thick
stailess steel. It is so powerfull, that you can't even imagine what it
can do... No confinent, no shaping.. nothing, and it still explodes...
<Fernanda>  BUT, As I said before *I wasn't going to melt it, for the
same reasons I told you about. Solid, it takes a split second for the
energy to be transfered from crystal to crystal. So it doesn't
explode...
<Fernanda>  Now. Since I was so sure that it wouldn't explode, I
prepared another 30 grams. I put them in a small, 30cc glass<= BIG
mistake.... After using up most of what was left in the glass, i put
some 10 grams on the concrete floor, in a line. I wanted to get rid of
it, so I decided to just burn the rest away... The remaining 5 grams or
less were stuck to the glass. So I gently taped the glass on the
concrete floor... THAT was the fatal mistake...
<Fernanda> You see, I was SO SURE that it would't explode that I didn't
mind tapping it...
<Fernanda>  Well, on the firt tap there was a massive explosion...
Everything on my sight went white and I was thrown back By the blast
wave. I  immediately got up, in shock, no really knowing what hqad
happened...And I started to run away. Than I thought... Hey, I was
holding it on my hand... So, I looked at my hand and what I saw will
never leave my mind: The gass had torn open my thumb, and my 2 first
fingers, and the massive shocxkwave came an ripped open all flesh and
tissue. My fingers were broken and stripped to the bone... My tendons
were also cut so I couldn't move them...
<Fernanda>  I just though... S***... Where is the ambuance... So I was
taken to the hospital... I wasn't in a shock when I got there and the
pain was soo much I coudn't do anything by shake... Blood was pourin
out... So, they gave me some morphin and took an x-ray of my hand...I
had to wait 2 hours for an operating room... I had plastic surgery on my
hand.... And I received several hundred flying supersonic pieces of
glass on my face... Some of them hit me in the eyes... I was extremely
lucky that they were not the largest ones. My face is full of small cuts
and my eyes are red, but that will get better in a few days.. The cuts
in my leg were slightly bigger but my jeans slowed the glass down to a
point where it didn't go in real deep... But my hand.... Well... My
bones will heal and my tendons were put back in place, but the nerve
damage I sustained on my first finger means I'll probably loose all
feeling on the tip of that finger... My middle finger was also severely
damaged... I'lll need physiotherapy and only after 2-3 months will I
know how it all ends up... Hopefully I will regain all movement on those
fingers.. Time will tell....

Good luck to Sam and he thanks everyone for thier moral support.
--
Cabbott Sanders
Salem Oregon
Website: http://members.aol-dot-com/cabbotttt
Phone 503-390-8992
Cel   503-930-9173