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Silver Acetylide

Action: A flame is touched to a small bit of a dry grey material and it immediately explodes with a loud report. Silver Acetylide when absorbed into a small splinter of a porous wood is known as the cigarette load, which can be hilarious. I once gave a friend a 'loaded' smoke and it blew up, but stayed lit somehow, he took another drag and it blew up again but stayed lit. He took a third hit and it blew again! He threw the smoke at me.  Store in water until ready to use.

You Need:

1. bottle of acetylene with low pressure regulator, you want to slowly bubble the acetylene into the beaker
2. silver nitrate crystals - 4 to 7 grams
3. water - 500 ml.
4. nh4 (ammonia) - 100 ml
5. beaker - 1,000 ml
6. hose - from acetylene bottle to inside beaker
7. wooden tongue depressors - at least 2

Why:

Silver acetylide explodes violently in the merest presence of flame, electricity and severe impact.

The last time I made it I used a 1,000 ml beaker with 500 ml of water, 100 ml nh4 and dissolved somewhere between 4 and 7 grams of AgNO3 crystals.  I put a small hose on the acetylene bottle, the inside diameter of the hose was about 3/16".  Slowly bubble acetylene into the liquid and a precipitate will accumulate on the surface, as with nitro, use a wood tongue depressor or similar instrument to scoop the grey matter out and put it on a piece of paper to dry.  There you go!