fandomhigh | Chemistry for Anarchists, Thursday, Period 4

Class met in the Danger Shop today, and arrayed on workstations in the front of the room were glass bottles of various shapes, soap flakes, rags, matches, tampons, firecrackers, sugar, rubber cement, and liter containers of gasoline, motor oil, wood alcohol and turpentine.

The back wall of the shop had been turned into a junkyard with old mattresses, beat-up cars, appliances and other ~~moddable~~ debris. A low wall separated the junk from the workstations.

"Afternoon," Tyler greeted the class once they were assembled. "Housekeeping first -- my office hours are pretty much all day Monday, and Evey Hammond is your TA. Let either of us know if you have questions. Also, there's safety gear at your stations. I know we're in the Danger Shop, but wear it anyhow. It's good practice." He paused for a second to snap on goggles, then reached for a bottle, a jug of gas, and a rag, working as he talked.

"Today, we're making Molotov cocktails. They're about the fastest and simplest bombs you can make. Rioters love these. Watch." As he spoke, he had sloshed the bottle three-fourths full with gas, soaked the rag in the stuff, and pulled it through the neck of the bottle to make a fuse, which he quickly lit on fire. He lobbed it at an avocado green refrigerator. "Ka-blam."

Grinning as the fridge came apart, Tyler pushed his hair back and hit a button on the shop control panel to put out the fire before talking again. "Not that it's always that simple. Lot of people like to add something to the gas -- a good handful of sugar, motor oil, soap flakes. All those things make the explosion stickier, like low-rent napalm. And some people swear by turpentine instead of gas. Abbie Hoffman, a radical back in the '60s, liked firecrackers or tampons as fuses. I think firecrackers are a little too much heavy ammo for one of these to carry, but that's me. But sugar's a nice, cheap addition."

"Your task today? Figure out what you think goes in a perfect Molotov cocktail and make one. Evey ~~assuming she tags in~~ and I will be around to help."

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"Ever try it with potassium chlorate and sulferic acid?" she asked after a moment. "Instead of the petrol."

"I have not," Tyler admitted, thinking about the reaction. "That'd make a hotter burn, right?"

"Neater, too," she said, nodding. "It's harder, though. Takes longer. But it goes hotter and it's more accurate. I've only done it a couple times, when I was experimenting."

"Might be a good experiment to do with this crew in a couple weeks," Tyler noted. "I'd need to order the supplies so we had the real thing, not just Danger Shop. And I'd need to test it on my own."

"Of course," she said, nodding. "They're not my favorite for quick stuff, but they're pretty."

"It's always nice to know the pretty stuff when you're playing around." Tyler wasn't even being sarcastic.

Her mouth quirked in a smile. "Generally, if he was blowing something up, V would toss in some fireworks too. I've kind of picked that up from him. So if I can make it pretty, I'd like to."

"I once arranged bombs so they'd make a smiley face before a building came down," Tyler said, smiling back at Evey. "Now that you've mentioned fireworks, I may need to steal that. Or you can dump in some ~~handwavey chemical name goes here~~ and make the flames green."

"Oooh." Evey's smile widened. "V's thing used to be to arrange the Roman candles so they'd hit a V. He did that when we blew up Parliament a couple years ago. I've yet to figure out my own signature."

Chemistry for Anarchists, Thursday, Period 4

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