Help me create a weapon of mass destruction

[Barcode]

For my Urban Arcana game, I need a cool new WMD. Something that mustn't fall into the wrong hands, but not at the melodramatic level of a supergerm or anything like that...

Since I have magic at my disposal, I can create things that subtly break various physical laws, such as Boyle's law or the laws of Thermodynamics, but I do want to maintain verisimilitude, so some pseudo-science is called for.

I am thinking about a gaseous incendiary called Phlogiston-7.

Attributes:
Portable - can be transported in liquid form (or even solid?), with a minimum of fuss (under pressure perhaps?). i.e. can't require massive refrigeration or other obvious hazmat type of preparation.
Stable - won't ignite unless a relatively specific catalytic agent is introduced.
Undetectable - Invisible, odorless, etc.
Burns hot, hot, hot.
Needs to not disperse very rapidly. Something you can release into the air at Disneyland and have it spread slowly along the ground for a couple hundred square meters, then apply the catalyst and fwhoom!

I am most of the way there, but it has been a long time since Chem 101.

Thoughts?

 

[takyris]

This breaks laws and all, but:

Phlogiston-7 is an incredibly powerful explosive that can only be activated under rare and unlikely conditions. Based on Cesium-Chloride, which forms a very stable salt crystal, Phlogiston-7 involves the trapping of CeCl molecules inside a Buckminsterfullerene molecule (60-carbon molecules that form a linked sphere). The Carbon molecules in this particular instance (when enclosing CeCl crystals) act as a reverse Faraday cage, amplifying incoming EM signatures rather than nullifying them.

Phlogiston-7 (C-60 10(CeCl)) is a stable compound that appears gray and silty, like a very fine sand. When heated, it vaporizes readily as a result of its reverse-Faraday effect, and because it does not interact chemically with most compounds, it has no odor and is very difficult to detect in gaseous form. When an EM signal of the proper frequency is supplied, the Buckfuller cages amplify the signal and cause the CeCel crystal to fragment at the molecular level, releasing a large quantity of energy. This in turn causes other nearby molecules to erupt similarly, with a cascading chain that results in incredible explosive force.

So, yeah. Dunno. I am so very full of it --I know just enough science to break things.

 

[Dana_Jorgensen]

Attributes:
Portable - can be transported in liquid form (or even solid?), with a minimum of fuss (under pressure perhaps?). i.e. can't require massive refrigeration or other obvious hazmat type of preparation.
Stable - won't ignite unless a relatively specific catalytic agent is introduced.
Undetectable - Invisible, odorless, etc.
Burns hot, hot, hot.
Needs to not disperse very rapidly. Something you can release into the air at Disneyland and have it spread slowly along the ground for a couple hundred square meters, then apply the catalyst and fwhoom!
Thoughts?

Well, no thoughts, just facts. Aside from incendiaries, the bulk of the world's current inventories of commercially produced or military grade weapons of mass destruction are extremely stable. It is only when you have to deal with home-made WMDs that you have to worry.

Second, WMDs "require" the hazmat protective equipment and procedures as a precaution against human error and catastrophic events, not as a protection due to any inherent stability of flaw in the material. So while the military may prefer to handle its chemical weapons by having the artillerists wear their hazmat suits while handling the shells and adding fuzes just as the shell is being loaded into a gun, your typical suicidal terrorist won't have a care in the world if he's carrying a glass jar of the stuff that he can smash on the first or last target of opportunity he stumbles across. The only care one needs to obey when selecting a container is to be sure to select a container that isn't corroded by the contents it transports. In other words, even if refridgeration were required, those using it may not care if such is provided.

 

[Alchemist]

This breaks laws and all, but:

Phlogiston-7 is an incredibly powerful explosive that can only be activated under rare and unlikely conditions. Based on Cesium-Chloride, which forms a very stable salt crystal, Phlogiston-7 involves the trapping of CeCl molecules inside a Buckminsterfullerene molecule (60-carbon molecules that form a linked sphere). The Carbon molecules in this particular instance (when enclosing CeCl crystals) act as a reverse Faraday cage, amplifying incoming EM signatures rather than nullifying them.

Oh, yeah. There's all sorts of stuff not really happening here, but it's good for your game. I would use it, with one alteration: Decide whether it's cesium chloride (CsCl), or cerium chloride (CeCl3). You said cesium, then put the symbol for cerium down there. That way if there's any chemists in the house you won't completely eradicate their suspension if disbelief with your bad nomenclature.

 

[takyris]

D'oh.

Cs, Cs, Cs! That's the really explosive one.

 

[Pagan priest]

Ooohhh I like it. I'll be using that CsCl bit. I have a question about the Buckyballs, what does it take to make them? Could it reasonably appear in a 20's-ish pulp?

"For the second phase of his dastardly plan, Dr. Fu Manchu had his henchmen place canesters of phlogeston -- 7 through out the hall..."

 

[takyris]

Hey, Pagan Priest -- note that I'm a former English major, so I can weave a good line of BS, but that's about it. Buckyballs are good lubricants, as they're like molecule-sized ball bearings, but otherwise, I dunno. As for your questions:

"Buckminsterfullerine was discovered in 1985 by Harold Kroto, Robert Curl, and Richard Smalley. It is named after the architect Richard Buckminster Fuller, because the molecule resembles the geodesic domes of his design. These molecules were first discovered in the vicinity of red giant stars, but bucky balls can also be found on earth, in the soot of hydrocarbon combustion. Buckminsterfullerene is fairly easily synthesized by striking an electric arc between two carbon rods under an inert atmosphere."

So it could easily be made, but you'd have to have your evil genius discover it first.

 

[Pagan priest]

Having him discover it is no problem. If you've ever read the Fu Manchu stories, he has quite an enterage of brilliant scientists in his thrall.

Hmm, just how well would P-7 do if scattered through out a building, say in the carpeting, or spread over the grass in an open field, with the proper RF fequency beamed in?

 

[Barcode]

Great write-up takyris, thanks.

I think I have a good way of working the heating of the P-7 into the final battle, which I can't yet expound upon lest my players eavesdrop (hint- bad guy is an Efreet). After which the battle becomes a struggle for the detonator. The heroes can also have some detector mechanism so they can see the P-7 (how is the chemical formula written, exactly?) spreading through the crowd...

 

[Klaatu B. Nikto]

The Buckminsterfullerene is considered C60 (should be a subscript). I'm guessing including CsCl would be similar to naming a caged molecule but I can't remember offhand. I think its something like C60[CsCl]. There's also bigger buckyballs like C70, C76, C78, C80 and C84 on the lowend.