How to Make Napalm from Gasoline and Styrofoam

One of Blasted Science's most legendary experiments is creating napalm. It's ridiculously easy to make! Now you can play with napalm, too.

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Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

[tlsrob]

Congratulations y’all, we made it to the watchlist.

[boulder]

Your folks can't figure out why the black van is always outside.

[benbrice]

We made napalm all the time as teenagers and you are the first person ive ever heard say it goes bad.It'll get dry and crusty maybe a little harder to light but once it's on fire it burns the same as newly made stuff.

[ruyvieira]

More like how to get into a FBI watchlist

[vegtamthewanderer]

Actually you need to add Benzene/napthamite in addition to gasoline and polystyrene to create actual Napalm B

[atincan]

Fill up a super soaker and it sounds like Vietnam 2: Electric Boogaloo

[Keithlander]

Works MUCH better if you use 32:1 premix gas + Styrofoam. I figured this out in like 1982

[derpmilkshake]

Napalm is fun to use, from burning stumps to starting bonfires, its really not that bad. Just don't get it on you bc it will have a really hard time coming out and it will burn for anywhere from 30 seconds to 10 minuets. Also don't breath in the fumes or anything, because it is still gasoline and Styrofoam.

[JakobIlar]

The military used this in Vietnam, but they found that it “shatters” when dispersed by high explosives. Turns out the brittle nature of the styrofoam is maintained in solution. The problem with this was the shattered globs would scatter around the target area, but not ignite. Newer incendiary gels use synthetic rubbers (like BlueTac).
For other uses, it does work, but a better mix is 25% gasoline, 75% diesel. Higher fuel value, longer, hotter flame.

[ssschwerer]

Dear fbi agent i only watched this video for educational purposes and don't intend using it

[lachlanhatcher]

If you use acetone, it will dissolve much faster and you will end up with almost exactly the same result although gasoline is usually a lot cheaper so use whatever you want I guess

[Cousin-Eddy]

Well, you see kids, when you're mixture solidifies into a block, it becomes easier to cut and shape around a dispersal mechanism such as a black powder charge or other combustible element. That's what gives you a nice way of kicking off a controlled burn for grassy fields and such. That way you can get a plow or tiller into the ground to start farming.

[lurpi]

The american way of life in its climax.

[thenamestails]

That's how a Molotov cocktail is made. They usually add acetone, though, so to dissolve the foam better.

[Col_Eddington]

That is not Napalm. It comes from the name palmitic acid or Steric acid both fatty acid like the 'saponification' in soap making where steric acid from fat undergoing abase hydrolysis reaction with the hydroxide(OH) of the cation to be used. With hard soap sodium hydroxide is used liquid or for use with seawater potassium hydroxide is used. With napalm palmitic acid found as the main constituent to many palm oils including coconut oil. You should also be familiar with simisolids like sterno gel or even mayonnaise and the surface tension difference in the emulsion. In sterno calcium acetate made from acetic acid ( vinegar) and calcium like chalk calcium carbonate or calcium hydroxide (slaked lime). The calcium hydroxide is a surfacent whichcan act as an emulsifier like the egg protein in mayonnaise and both being hydrophilic (affinity towards water) on one side of the molecule and lipophilic (affinity towards polar lipids) when the calcium acetate is dissolved saturated in water and added to alcohol it forms a gel.
Go back to palmitic acid and the cation is aluminum to form aluminum palmitate which is super saturated and mixed into a gel with a stabilizer to hold shape or it is deployed and mixes with compressed air or propellant. The aluminum palmitate is blended with gasoline and now a synthetic (likely benzene with nitro propane) potassium permanganate in a binary compound for ignition.

[dftdbs]

Try mixing Potassium Perchlorate and a small amount of road-flare powder to make shit interesting... Also, to make your napalm worth a shit, add some motor oil to your gasoline before mixing, otherwise your napalm will dry up fairly quickly becoming a glob of hardened Styrofoam that is hardly flammable, and store it in an air tight container, it fumigates, meaning every single minute its outside a sealed container the flammable vapors of the gasoline are evaporating out of your Styrofoam. Mineral Oils can help with this as well as the motor oil...

[GdMan.]

I love how it’s illegal to buy or sell napalm but it’s perfectly legal to make it at home

[joshwhite]

man seeing the torch just made me realize this can be used for woodland survival. in a survival kit have a small amount ready, cut pieces to start fires for cooking warmth ect, or light source

[dane]

Thanks! I couldn't remember how we did it without cooking the gasoline ( Yeah we put a fire under it ), back when I was this age and now I need a safer way to make it for an art project that I want to try. I've never played napalm soccer but I've done a few volleys of napalm tennis. People of YouTube: This stuff is tricky to put out and burns HOT! Be careful! And have fun.

[haganjohna]

i have literally NEVER seen a more epic video than this one