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SkepticsCan gasoline and frozen orange juice concentrate make napalm?
[+16] [1] KeithS
[2012-06-26 15:03:17]
[ explosives ]
[ https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/9956/can-gasoline-and-frozen-orange-juice-concentrate-make-napalm ]

In the movie Fight Club [1], the character Tyler Durden says that equal parts gasoline and frozen orange juice concentrate make napalm [2]. The question's very simple; would this mixture make napalm, anything like napalm, or a precursor to it? My guess is it wouldn't work, and would reek.

A little bit of both actually; I think the OJ will reduce the flammability of the gasoline, and the combination won't be the sticky goo we think of as napalm. - KeithS
(6) I'll check the DVD commentary later, but my recollection is that the recipes for explosives, etc were changed for safety reasons. - Tom77
IIRC the one they were most worried about was dynamite (later on after the liposuction clinic scene), so they left out some key steps of the glycerine-making and nitroglycerine-making process. However, the idea of napalm from gasoline and OJ is mentioned only once almost as a throwaway, to clue you in about what this guy thinks about when he's at home and the power goes out. - KeithS
(6) From an interview with Chuck Palahniuk (he wrote the book): Well, Ed Norton changed one ingredient in every one to make them useless. So, that really pissed me off because I really research those really well. Actually its styrofoam and gasoline... - Oliver_C
Yeah, I knew about that one; you add some long-chain polymers back into the gasoline solvent (synthetic rubber works really well too) and you get a sticky, flammable tar. - KeithS
I guess I have my answer; Oliver-C's comment says that the orange juice concentrate was a substitute for the real second ingredient, styrofoam. - KeithS
(1) @KeithS - You should feel free to write this up as a full answer if you have an answer to your own question. That is if nobody else want to do it! - Jamiec
(1) Styrofoam and Gasoline are a much more effective combination. - user7687
(1) @Jamiec: I did, and for some reason the post was converted to a comment by the moderator. - KeithS
[+8] [2012-07-07 20:53:07] user606723 [ACCEPTED]

Credit to Oliver_C

From an interview with Chuck Palahniuk [1] (he wrote the book):

Well, Ed Norton changed one ingredient in every one to make them useless. So, that really pissed me off because I really research those really well. Actually its styrofoam and gasoline...

[1] http://www.dvdtalk.com/interviews/chuck_palahniuk.html

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