I was taking a look in a book about what to do in an emergency and I've found something quite interesting about potassium permanganate, that might interest the people in this board.
I'll try to translate some of it, it can help a lot if you find yourself in a tricky situation.
The potassium permanganate is a chemical product sold under the form of purple crystals and is a very useful item for a survival kit. It can be used to purify whater, to clean wounds, to light fires or to send S.O.S signs.
- to purify water put 3 or 4 crystals of potassium permanganate in 1 liter of water and let the product act for 30 minutes. It changes the color of the water a little bit, but the water can be used for drinking or to cook.
- to clean wounds or to treat fungi infections, put crystals of the product one by one in a glass of water, waiting for them to dissolve. Stop when the water gets purple. Clean the wound with this solution. (this is also used in the treatment of chicken pox)
- to light a fire, take 1 portion of sugar and 2 of potassium permanganate. Mix them and mash the resulting powder between 2 pieces of combustible material. If they are dry enough, the material will be set on fire.
- another way to light a fire is to fill a dessert spoon with potassium permanganate and put it over a sheet of paper. After that put some drops of alcohol or etilen glicol, and squash the paper, making a ball. the chemical reaction should produce fire within 30 seconds.
- S.O.S sign in the snow: sprinkle potassim permanganate dissolved in water over the snow. The solution will dye the snow with a bright purple color, that will help the search team.
- S.O.S sign in the water: potassium permanganate in the water will produce a temporary sign, if you are drift in a small boat. This sign in the water around you can help the search team to find you.
Where can you fiind this stuff? Does it have a common name it is known by? For example MSG can be bought as Adolph's Meat Tenderizer and it is the only ingredient in the product.
International Level: Diplomat / Political Participation: 320 32%
Name: John
Comments: You can usually purchase the potassium at your local pet store, its usually used to treat fish of some sort of disease. If your lazy and have the money you can just get it on ebay. There's tons of things you can do with stuff, hell mix it with glycol, and it will instantaneously ignite, its a good way to fire up termite.