# Can orange juice concentrate and gasoline really make nitroglycerine?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-orange-juice-concentrate-and-gasoline-really-make-nitroglycerine/221688>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 30, 2003, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-orange-juice-concentrate-and-gasoline-really-make-nitroglycerine/221688 "2003-12-30T03:03:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-orange-juice-concentrate-and-gasoline-really-make-nitroglycerine/221688/21 "2003-12-30T14:36:25Z")

</div>

The whole idea behind the OJ and gasoline recipe for napalm was that frozen OJ was “gloopy”–nothing more. Gasoline and polystyrene certainly does work–the US military version is kerosene and polystyrene.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-orange-juice-concentrate-and-gasoline-really-make-nitroglycerine/221688/22 "2003-12-30T17:32:41Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Roches \*  
> \*\*  
> Another problem is the scene where the narrator gets lye on his hand. Tyler says ‘you can go to the sink and run water over it’, then goes off talking all badass about how that would be stupid and result in further injury. (I think the author’s argument has something to do with the reaction being exothermic.) Tyler, being a genius as well as a badass, suggests using vinegar. This is **not** recommended procedure. The correct treatment for chemical burns is **always** flushing the affected area with large amounts of water. Using an acid to neutralize the base is highly unwise. It takes a lot of 5% acetic acid to neutralize even a relatively small amount of a strong base such as NaOH, and the reaction is still exothermic. The burn occurs so quickly that there’s really no time to worry about neutralizing the base. The best thing to do is dilute it and rinse it off. \*\*

I think the idea behind that was the fact that the NaOH solution on his hand was of course saturated, since whatever moisture on his skin would be the only solvent there… and when he went to the sink to put water on it, it would create more solution, and thus more OH-, but it neglected to say anything about the fact that it would then dilute it once all of the lye was dissolved.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gcarroll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/65b543/32.png) [@gcarroll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gcarroll)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-orange-juice-concentrate-and-gasoline-really-make-nitroglycerine/221688/23 "2004-01-01T15:43:51Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by AskNott \*  
> \*\*Using movies as a source of information, truth, philosophical wisdom, or life direction is often a bad idea. I wouldn’t write it off completely, but the odds are not so hot. \*\*

Not _always true_. At work I sometimes consider the lament from “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”: “Morons! I’ve got _morons_ on my team!”

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-orange-juice-concentrate-and-gasoline-really-make-nitroglycerine/221688.md?page=1)