# Molotov cocktail questions **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 28, 2022, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/molotov-cocktail-questions/960255 "2022-02-28T22:02:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/molotov-cocktail-questions/960255/21 "2022-03-01T15:31:18Z")
I’m not sure, but if I had to guess, it would be that the additional benzene probably lets the mixture be more controllable- the viscosity is just-so, or the ignition properties are specific, etc… versus gasoline, which is a non-standard mixture of hydrocarbons within a certain range. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2022, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/molotov-cocktail-questions/960255/22 "2022-03-02T23:53:59Z")
Lots of 'em, most of which are not appropriate for a public message board. 😉 😇 I can see it now: The FBI shows up on my doorstep, claiming some dumbass teenager read one of my posts. Tripler I **do not** look good in an orange jumpsuit. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2022, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/molotov-cocktail-questions/960255/23 "2022-03-02T23:58:57Z")
How about the two specific questions in the OP? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/molotov-cocktail-questions/960255/24 "2022-03-03T02:27:47Z")
> [@Tripler](#): > > I can see it now: The FBI shows up on my doorstep, claiming some dumbass teenager read one of my posts. \< takes notes; @Tripler’s doorstep is _not_ booby trapped. \> ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/molotov-cocktail-questions/960255/25 "2022-03-03T02:40:53Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > How about the two specific questions in the OP? The second question has been well addressed: they are most likely styrofoam pellets, probably from a pillow or something. The first question, re: thick silver liquid: my guess is that it’s lacquer-based or enamel-based paint, which is plenty flammable to make a Molotov cocktail do its thing. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/molotov-cocktail-questions/960255/26 "2022-03-03T02:50:02Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > The second question has been well addressed: they are most likely styrofoam pellets, probably from a pillow or something. You can see Ukrainians making Molotov’s in great quantities in the short clip at the link below. They are covered in styrofoam (in some parts) from any source they can get their hands on. Note: This is not a tutorial for making these: [https://old.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/t4v4k6/ukrainian\_civilians\_in\_high\_morale\_coming/](https://old.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/t4v4k6/ukrainian_civilians_in_high_morale_coming/) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/molotov-cocktail-questions/960255/27 "2022-03-03T04:28:37Z")
This WW2 training film explains it a little. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/taHFUKKKmJM/maxresdefault.jpg "RESTRICTED WWII TRAINING FILM "CRACK THAT TANK" ANTI-TANK WARFARE 27424") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taHFUKKKmJM) ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/molotov-cocktail-questions/960255/28 "2022-03-03T13:57:01Z")
To me, the first image looks like the sheen of motor oil mixed with motor fuel. The diesel/gasoline is easier to ignite, but the motor oil burns with a thick, caustic smoke that’s good for choking victims, or marking positions/targets. But this weird silvery sheen makes me also consider it _could_ be an ANFO mixture. My bet, though, is on motor lube & fuel. The second one, using styrofoam, would coagulate the fuel to make it stickier’n shit. Good for “sliming” napalm that’s tough to put out. There are other coagulants, that have been mentioned before, but they can get . . . _messy_. Tripler Weird Sheen? Molotov cocktails? What is this, _Red Dawn_?? Oh. . . wait. . . ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/molotov-cocktail-questions/960255/29 "2022-03-03T16:44:00Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > The second question has been well addressed: they are most likely styrofoam pellets, probably from a pillow or something. Weaponized Beanie Babies… ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/molotov-cocktail-questions/960255/30 "2022-03-03T20:06:40Z")
I hope enough on-point answers have been provided to allow me a tangent. Lots of photos and videos of abandoned Russian kit have surfaced, often showing the vehicles with their complement of ammunition. If Yuri and his band of resistance fighters get their hands on tank shells and helicopter rockets (sorry, I’m not versed on the correct terminology), to what extent can the ammunition alone be used as a weapon? For instance, can a tank shell be rigged to act as an explosive? The question is just that I’m wondering whether these things have any real value for the Ukrainians. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/molotov-cocktail-questions/960255/31 "2022-03-03T20:22:00Z")
As I understand it many of the IEDs in Iraq used repurposed standard ordnance warheads and propellants, so it is a possibility. More on point, a lot of Ukrainian armor, artillery and small arms are Soviet legacy so the rounds for many of these systems are the same on both sides. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/molotov-cocktail-questions/960255/32 "2022-03-03T20:44:08Z")
Not all tank shells are explosive shells, though. Maybe it would be better to use them as intended (to defeat armour), and to use blocks of plastic explosives as intended if you need a basic demolition charge (similarly, there is “military dynamite” that is just mostly RDX and TNT, industrial explosives, etc, probably not worth dismantling tank rounds unless you want a cool tungsten paperweight). ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/molotov-cocktail-questions/960255/33 "2022-03-03T21:12:58Z")
It’s even more than a lot; pretty much _all_ Ukrainian armor, artillery and small arms are Soviet legacy or modernized Soviet legacy. With some exceptions pretty much any captured ammunition can be used by both sides. One of the major presumed reasons that the Russians were marking all of their vehicles with a white Z, V or triangle was to prevent fratricide since their vehicles if not literally identical are visually indistinguishable from Ukrainian equipment at any distance. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/molotov-cocktail-questions/960255/34 "2022-03-03T21:26:01Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > What is the purpose of the benzene in the military version? It makes the mixture less flammable so that it’s safer to handle and transport. Modern napalm actually has low flammability and is really hard to ignite. This is overcome by using an igniter based on a hot-burning material like thermite. This way, if a B-52 full of napalm bombs slides off the end of the runway, you’re less likely to lose half your airbase. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/molotov-cocktail-questions/960255/35 "2022-03-03T21:42:28Z")
You do not need any thermite to ignite even pure benzene. Maybe there is something else about the formulation. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2022, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/molotov-cocktail-questions/960255/36 "2022-03-04T01:53:29Z")
“Molotov cocktails”? Pfft, who are you old guys? Only geriatric veterans of the Great Patriotic War use those. The cool kids these days make “Lviv smoothies”. > **[In Lviv, Ukraine, civilians take resistance to Russia into their own hands |...](https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ukraine-lviv-resistance-1.6370600)** > > On the outskirts of Lviv, Ukraine, a handful of men had the road to their town blocked with heavy machinery and metal barricades. It's part of the civilian-led resistance movement in this western Ukraine city. > [@](#): > > Young volunteers have been making the home-made weapons out of donated and recycled beer and alcohol bottles, calling them “Lviv smoothies,” or “Bandera Smoothies,” named after Stephen Bandera, a polarizing Ukrainian ultra-nationalist who fought against Soviet occupation but was also a Nazi collaborator during the Second World War. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2022, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/molotov-cocktail-questions/960255/37 "2022-03-04T12:08:59Z")
No, Nazi collaborators are never cool, and by extension anyone who actually identifies with Nazi collaborators. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2022, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/molotov-cocktail-questions/960255/38 "2022-03-04T12:49:44Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > As I understand it many of the IEDs in Iraq used repurposed standard ordnance warheads and propellants, so it is a possibility. Yep. But once supplies started dwindling, people switched to more _commonoccurence_ materials. This included using household materials and a little chemistry to manufacture homemade explosives. They’d package the HME in whatever material they wanted, which made it exceedingly dangerous for everyone: “_Is that plastic jug just trash, or a deliberately placed item?_” HME chemistry ain’t no joke, either (to do it safely, for good product). It does take some basic wits and supplies. Molotov cocktails? Basic stuff that’s easily trainable, replicatable, and effective. Tripler Walter White would have been a _great_ insurgent. ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/molotov-cocktail-questions/960255/39 "2022-03-09T15:19:03Z")
There are videos of slingshot devices being tested to launch said cocktails. Primitive, but a volley at dismounted troops or soft vehicles could be effective. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/molotov-cocktail-questions/960255/40 "2022-03-09T16:04:01Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > I’m sorry to say I don’t quite remember how the story ends. Possibly a neighbor noticed and put it out with the bottom a metal garbage can. I don’t recall getting in trouble for it. There are times when you need to drag a kid by the ear to his parents, and then there are times when it’s pretty clear to everyone involved that a lesson has been learned. IME, things involving fire tend to fall into the latter category. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/molotov-cocktail-questions/960255.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/molotov-cocktail-questions/960255.md?page=3)