Here’s a question that was passed on to me that I had no answer for. I was hoping that the Teeming Millions in their juvenile mischief, no, no, I mean in their infinite wisdom, knew the score.
“I was wondering if non-dairy creamer is flammable just as powdered milk is?”
From the lips of the USDA:
The majority of that stuff burns just fine. I’ve never lit off either one, but I imagine it gets pretty smoky.
I actually preformed the experiment with some generic coffee creamer. It contained:
Corn syrup solids, Partially hydrogenated soybean oil, sodium caseinate (a milk derivative), dipotassium phosphate, mono and diglycerides, silicon dioxide, soy lecithin, and artificial flavor.
I’m very unhappy to report, that if you drop a lit napking into a large quantity of the stuff, the only reaction you get is the creamer sticking to the chared napkin remains. No excess smoke or fire, hell the creamer itself didn’t even char.
How disappointing.
A little potassium permanganate and a few drops of water might yield a more interesting response from your non-dairy vegetarian creamer.
How yow bowgle.
I imagine you may have more success when the creamer’s suspended in the air. Try putting a small pile under a clear plastic jar, with a long hose placed under the jar. Put a candle or other flame under it and then blow into the pipe. Hopefully that’ll lift the creamer into the air and get some of it to burn. As it’s been recounted to me, this should blow the jar into the air. Not sure about whether it’ll be quite powerful enough to do so, but I’m sure you’ll at least get ignition.
Yeah, what you really need to suspend the particles in air. Many, many things become inflammable or explosive when this happens. Exploding grain elevators and whatnot.
Can this be the car of the future if you can modify a good fuel injected engine?
Thanks for the responses. I’ll have to check to see just what circumstances the original questions applied to. I’m not sure he was as imaginative as all of you together.
IF you dropped that napkin inside a grain elevator you would get the same results. The particals in the air must be “just right” for an explosion. Try this. Take a long flexible hose or tube, lay it out on the ground (outside), pour a pound or 2 of flour in a mound covering one end of the hose opening. Now place a lit candle in the flour and cover with a large can (coffee). Go to the other end of the tube and give it a quick blow. Possible explosion! Please no jokes about “blowing” and “explosions”.
Okay experiments two and three coming up.
#2 like a napkin, and gently blew some creamer at the napkin flames.
Result, i blew out the napkin. (but i could have been the creamer right?)
#3 I re lit the napkin and droped a pea sized amount onto the flames.
Result, I burned the hair off of my left arm.
So to answer the OP. I dont’ know how flamable powdered milk is, but the creamer i used was VERY flamable.
Should read
#2 lit a napkin…
Damn burned arm can’t type for shit. 
Ok, I’ve actually done this: (DON’T TRY THIS YOURSELF, AND IF YOU DO, I TAKE ABSOLUTELY NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE RESULTS) I opened a package of dry non-dairy creamer and held it at arms length, higher than my head. In the other hand, at about waist level, I held a bic lighter. I flicked my bic, and poured the creamer out of the container so that it fell in a powdery-stream into the flame. Instantly, the whole falling mass flamed up with a satisfying “wooshing” sound, then was gone.
Non-dairy creamer is basically just oil. When it gets all that air around it, it’s very flamable.
Diesel engines can be (and have been) modified to run on powdered coal, sawdust etc; flour mills have been known to go ‘boom’ when a mix of flour suspended in air was ignited. Vastly increased surface area vs mass/volume - it’s the reason that steel wool burns easily and steel teaspoons don’t.
Turek got it right. My suggestion is to lay out some tin foil and place a lit candle on top of it. Drop it over finely from the package over the flames and you’ll get a very satisfying flash. In fact, magician’s flash powder is non-dairy creamer.
I don’t think so. Can you show me any cites of “diesel” engines running on solid fuel?
You can make a cube of sugar catch flame if you put a little ash on the corner first. I suppose you might try this with creamer (add some ash) as experiement #3.
Hmmm the below site claims that the coal dust engines failed but my guess is that someone has made it work in the past hundred plus years.
http://www.swedmotor.se/diesel_-_historik.htm
“The first experimental engine was built in 1893 and used high pressure air to blast the coal dust into the combustion chamber. This engine exploded and further developments of using coal dust as a fuel failed, however a compression ignition engine that used oil as fuel was successful and a number of manufacturers were licensed to build similar engines.”
From…
http://www.shell.ca/code/motoring/encyclopedia/diesel/diesel_engines.html
"At first, there was no such thing as a scientifically formulated diesel fuel. Diesels ran on whatever was available, most frequently vegetable oils and even coal dust. Over the years, however, it was discovered that diesels, with their high compression ratios, ran best on a blend of crude-oil hydrocarbons spanning a boiling range of 150° to 330°C. "
red_dragon60, I’d be interested in a cite for that (re: flash powder is non-dairy creamer).
From my very limited pyrotechnics experience, I had thought that flash powder was mainly magnesium or other powdered metals and some other ingredient. I’m not really sure what other ingredient though, and don’t feel like fighting through the mass of trash that I’d find through a google.