Testing the Gunpowder "Proof" Legend 

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"You can set anything on fire if you really believe in yourself" words to live by

I like to think that Brian and Jason yell "Cause I'm a modern rogue!" at the end of each episode, but the editors cut it out every time

I read "Gunpowder" but I think "Brian and Jason blows themselves up accidently."

This felt like an episode of Myth Busters. Even had a back story about the myth and had multiple trials and everything. Also it was so science-y

I swear these are the only premiers I can make. Everyone else is too early in the day for that shit.

Brian: we’re getting a little bit more science adjacent My brain: With Evan and Katelyn

God, the flashback to you guys in your garage making sugar smoke bombs shows just how far this show has come.

I'm telling my kids this is Daft Punk after retirement

They’re slowly turning from “science adjacent” to “a science Jason” it’s always sad to see children grow up 😪

I actually think that using Black Powder is better for this legend than smokeless as this is what would have been used in the day as this is true “gunpowder” where modern smokeless isn’t traditional gun powder.

I see gunpowder in the title and I immediately thing, "Oh, nice, an episode with the resident adult, Cory" Imagine my surprise when it's just these two kids playing with alcohol and black powder.

“The difference between screwing around and science is writing it down.” -Adam Savage

Day five of me asking them to bring back "Cause I'm a modern roooooooooogguuuueee" in the intro.

Quick little science thing: the primary reason for the switch from black powder to smokeless is that the former causes significant fouling. Black powder burns dirty and deposits lots of corrosive salts and gunk in the action. This limited the effective use of rifling, since the grooves would quickly fill in, and hurt the development of auto-loaders. Smokeless powder burns both cleaner and faster, which had the additional benefit of more velocity.

most of the black powder commercially produced nowadays is pressed and coated with paraffin to make it more resistant to moisture and water... thats why it was not absorbing water that good...

For those of you playing at home, zippo fluid will pull the water out of liquor. I don’t recommend drinking it afterward but you can watch the boundary layer change as the water transitions out of the rum and into the naphthalene

As of yet, to my knowledge, MR has yet to do a video of Brian and Jason actually trying to make their own black powder. They have used it in a few episodes but have not tried making it themselves and I feel like that is something they really ought to do.

you know they absolutely could have done this with just everclear, watering it down to different levels, but they needed an excuse to buy like 4 bottles of rum

This reminds me of the hydrogen episode when brian thought for a second they killed Kevin

Tune in next week, as the Rogues test whether or not Shepard could have actually lit the gasoline by throwing a cigar at it. _LEGEND TESTERS!!!_

I love you. You've helped me through some hard times and i just wanted to say thank you.

That last sheet of aluminim with the powder burns could be an interesting art print

Black powder _is_ gunpowder. Modern smokeless powders are explicitly different propellants.

11:14 ""I feel obligated as the fire eating expert to inform everybody the more explosive and flash-pointy it can be, the SAFER it is." And this mindset permeates this show

"and we've got alot of balls to try this without knowing what we're doing" this honestly sums up alot of your guys' videos.

Oh man your camera work and lighting has come such a long way. Those shots are luscious!!!

I cannot say enough how entertaining these videos have been getting over the last few years. I remember from the start of the channel it was great even then! I came from scam school when spikes were a thing... love you guys!

The editing is so good on this episode. i love the character

Well I timed this subway pickup perfectly. Just got back and played up my sandwich!

Y'all got yerselves a mighty fine cinematography dept there, sirs. Very dope shots and pans of the foil.

Brain: Fancy 20th Century Talk is what I'm hearing! Me: Brian does know we've been in the 21st Century for over 2 decades right?

alternative title: "how to make miniature white phosphorus for all of your 1/35 scale Vietnam war-based panorama scene needs"

It is actually more accurate to call black power, gunpowder then it is to call smokeless powder, gunpowder

The final test was amazing!

I’m grateful for the modern rogue thank you guys for your show it makes my day

Music is spot on! Feels like the planning phase of a heist movie.

That foil looks like beautiful art 🖤

This is the most science adjacent since the cooking a body episode!

Just wanted to say thanks for the discount just ordered some raycons! also going to be ordering some of your modern rogue masks soon!!!!!!!!!

When Covid his hard in NYC last April you could find rubbing alcohol on any shelf. I just mixed Everclear and filtered water 70/30 for my sanitation spray as it was "safer" since it was food-grade ethanol. I just used a spray bottle to spray items and hands to sanitize.

You might be a modern rogue but are you a MODERN ROOooOUGE !!

My understanding of the original test was that 50 proof booze when mixed with an equal amount of gunpowder would burn with a clean blue flame. Your test seemed more concerned with the gunpowder igniting than what kind of flame the mixture would produce. .

Proof!! Now where's the academic paper?

Fantastic Slow motion shots 👍🏻

Alton Brown actually had a segment about this. You did this because if you dump booze on black powder and light it, you can tell a lot about how potent the alcohol is by what kind of flame you get, (color and intensity) and by how long it takes for the powder to ignite. Beer or wine will just stop the whole thing from lighting in the first place, there's too much water in them. Fortified wines like vermouth aren't a lot better. They have grain alcohol in them, but not all THAT much of it. 80 proof will actually light, more or less, but it takes quite a bit of effort and it doesn't burn well. (Your use of map gas is the main reason it worked. Constant high heat source to boil the water off.) I think once it's lit it tends to keep burning, though. The heat vaporizes enough alcohol that the fumes will keep burning. 140 is usually the minimum for being able to easily light it with a match, produces a decent flame, and then the powder lights soon after that. 190 lights easily, burns high and bright, then the powder kicks off quickly. It was a way of being sure of how much alcohol was in your booze if you didn't have the equipment to measure specific gravity or know how to use it. (A lot of people HAD black powder handy, so it was readily available as a measuring technique.)

I've been watching the channel for years but I just realized after watching this episode that this is just Mythbusters but without the "professionals" or "experts" or "safety measures", we that's exactly how I like it!

I’m watching this while wearing the lucky dice socks thank you Brian and Jason

Black powder is very hydroscopic, it absorbs water readily. When used in firearms it leave behind a lot of corrosive residue. After shooting black powder it's important to clean your gun thoroughly. This is why you don't see modern semi-automatic and fully automatic firearms until the development of cleaner burning smokeless powder in the 1890's.

this brings some nostalgic playing with dangerous stuff vibes

"At some point the water evaporates off and it "BOOFS"?" No, that's a different episode. Probably will get demonetized.

Jason just FYI, black powder rifle‘s are still in common use and in many states used every day four not only hunting but competition. In fact some states have specific hunting times dedicated for black powder rifle‘s 👍

@The Modern Rogue - is your black hat in ads fitted or adjustable? Also where are you buying it? I have been trying to find a short brimmed black cap to replace my terribly worn one for 2 years

Just turned midnight in the uk and it's just released.

With that being said, MR... I think we need to see you two do some black powder shooting! Canons, Muskets and the like!

I’m liking that “Miami Rail” you had there 😂. Typically you gotta use the universal studios membership card. Then you know your a cool kid😅😉

i really wish they did it the other way round, soaked black powder with a line to dry to see is the ignation waits for the alcohol burns off to ignite the dry powder, or if the alcohol has to be burned off then it all ignites

Brian: "We are doing real science!" Also Brian: Suggests a completely different way of doing the test for every sample.

Oh! I remember this preview picture now! And that was black powder not some liquor I was not familiar with.

Correct me if im wrong, but i believe potassium nitrate (KNO3) is water soluble, so maybe on a chemical pov thats why the powder wont light when wet. But when the water evapourates, the KNO3 is left behind and allows for the reaction to happen again

15:48 did you guys get a new macro lens? Damn these shots look fine

Cool, I always wondered about that.

The funny thing is that I had a teacher who made his own gunpowder as a kid and he figured out that if you mixed the gunpowder with water then dried it and ground it..... very carefully... the boom you got was bigger

Ok, here's what I know: In order to get a flame from a glass of alcohol drink you DON'T just drop in a match! (it needs air, fluid and heat to ignite) By droping the match in, you eliminate the air component, then the flame just disappears. You should hover the match on top of the liquid. Another observation...Black Powder has a higher igniting rate (it burns faster, makes a quick POOF!) but gun powder burns notably slower. By mixing the alcoholic beverage in the black powder you made the burn last longer. That's something to consider for a future smoke bomb :) It also seems the amound of alcohol in the powder makes the burn last longer or less, more consistent or less. Can't wait to see what you guys gonna come up for the next episode! Have a great day MR!

I died at the “how scientific you wanna be?” “A Jason”

Hey guys, great episode, have watched the channel for years and always enjoy the sketchy bombs. BUT PLEASE CONTAIN THE EXPLOSION!!! Things will expand much more rapidly when compressed slightly. Use less liquor, just enough for flame, match heads, pingpongballs, and the powder, and boom. Anyways, great watch thanks guys.

You guys should sell the aluminum foil with the burnt black powder. Looks like beautiful, unintentional artwork.

You know Jason felt like a jedi wizard when he said "Proof!" and it flashed 😂

2:30 - "Let's get the flamey things away..." takes the alcohol to a safe distance, but leaves the blackpowder :)

So that's why the black powder trail to the TNT barrel always took so long to burn. It was doused with Captain Morgans.

Been watching since scam school. Love your videos, good shit man.

I like the idea of using "A Jason" as a unit of measure for how science-y things get. If it's not very science-y, it's low numbers of Jason, if it gets very science-y they reach many Jasons

Jason; We'll be doing some testing in the lab today Brian; OK I'll turn off the Smoke Alarms

(3 AM) I should sleep (Scrolls through RU-vid feed and this video pops up) Yeah I slept yesterday

the ration of rum issued to sailors was meant for sterilizing the water they had but some did save up this ration to binge on after the built a stash

as someone who does a lot of black powder rifle shooting and has gallons of black powder, i can smell this video. it smells good.

We need a thunder mug episode!!

this is like a less skilled and less produced mythbusters but I also mean that in a good way as I loved mythbusters

The water gets absorbed into the charcoal like a sponge because of it having tiny pores and the water also dissolves the potassium nitrate and the sulfur at least that’s my best hypothesis on why water ruins black powder or gun powder

out of curiosity were you using real blackpowder or a substitute (and if so which one) from the fact it came in a professional bottle it makes me think it's a substitute because true black powder is _much_ harder to ship since it's classified as an explosive where substitutes are classified with smokeless powder which isn't

I have solved black powder in water, then let it dry completely out and it still lights,though it does burn much slower. Still, it's a good way to paint power or shape it...for the fun of it ;)

We should all give RU-vid a shoutout for ruthlessly making you watch back to back advertisements multiple times without any ability to skip these ads with the sole purpose of driving you to sign up for RU-vid premium. Its shameless but they don't quit. Lol

1:46 Smokeless powder was actually first adopted en masse in the late 19th century by the French in their 1886 Lebel rifle

You should sign those pieces of foil and have them as a Patreon bonus or something.

"here is our sponsor" *Skips 10 seconds*

where can I buy the goex 1.5 fg olde eynsford? "the black powder used^"

Back in the day, they had "proofing guns" to test the potency of blackpowder. They resembled flintlock pistols except in place of a barrel, they had a spring and a scale that measured the power of the blast. If the powder was weak, they knew it was poorly made or contaminated. (They would increase the powder load to adjust for that batch) Alcohol is "proofed" based on the equivalent charge of blackpowder. They did it with math.By law every US state has a different proof (alcohol content) that's adjusted by adding water to the liquor. Hiram Maxim, the inventor of the machine gun, was one of the inventors of smokeless powder. Traditional blackpowder causes smoke and a lot of fouling, which gums up gun actions that prevents you from shooting so many rounds in a row without cleaning. British muskets were loaded with .69" balls and had a bore that averaged .75". They were smooth bore because a rifled barrel would become too fouled to use after so many rounds. By using undersized balls, the soldiers could shoot more, up to 40 rounds in a row, if they survived that long, with the accuracy getting better because the fouling tightened up the bore diameter, stabilizing the Blackpowder doesn't create enough gas pressure that can be used to work most automatic or semi-automatic gun actions (you can load .45 ACP with blackpowder and it will work in a 1911 until it gets too dirty. .45 ACP was designed by J.M. Browning at the US Army's request to replicate the old blackpowder.45 Colt round they used during the last quarter of the 19th century. The volume of the .45 ACP case works out to be just right to produce the pressure needed to work the action using blackpowder or smokeless.) The British invented "cordite" around 1900 which is cotton fiber soaked in chemicals to create nitro cellulose based powders. It was literally "cords" of loosely woven cotton string. During the Civil War they experimented with "gun cotton" which was cotton soaked in acetone, but it was very unstable and blew up a lot of cargo ships because of sparks. Cordite was sealed in brass casings, but it was still unstable from heat and would deteriorate. Later versions of smokeless used different formulas. When you read a modern novel talking about "the smell of cordite in the air", that could only happen if they used ammo from before WW2 or some old British surplus.

"Kind of like science" could be your new motto :D

I used to make smoke powder with fish tank oxygen tablets and instant lemon tea powder mixed together

i'd like to think that MR HQ has an amazing bar set up for between shoots at this point.

It seems you have invented cool gunpowder art :)

I think the problem is that if there is liquid left, the evaporation of said liquid cools it down enough to keep it below the flash point..

Great use of a “Miami Rail” hahaha

i think the idea with the alcohol proof was to soak the powder in rum but then let it dry, that should get you a burn at ~100proof because the water isn't actually in the way of the fire anymore, just part of dissolving the potassium nitrate

The way the bottles are lined up is how my taste in liqour has chabged through out the past 5 years

mah'jason *tips science fadora*

I always thought that the lower % alcohol just had to get hotter to combust, because it needs to throw off more vapors before ignition because alcohol has a lower temperature liquid form then water

well the reason they went to smokeless powder wasnt because it was less smoky tho that is a benefit, it was because it allowed for higher pressure with less powder and faster bullet velocity's, tho this caused lead bullets to melt or break apart in the barrel when fired which lead to incasing a lead core in a copper jacket to withstand the higher gas pressure and heat

I think it's the color of the flame if I remember correctly. Determines the amount of alcohol present There was a documentary on moonshining on the history channel. And there was an expert talking about proofing with flame. And he showed it being done I can't remember what he said and how exactly how he did it. I was a few years ago.

Yeah it has gotta be a match as an ignition source. The torch is going to force the alchohol to evaporate and burn off too quickly... the match let's it burn like an alchohol candle above the black powder before ignighting it which allows you to standardize a scale based on time of burn before ignition of the powder. Lol