explosive plasticine

[percypineapple]

Hi All,
I was trying to get some old plasticine a bit more pliable, it had been in the kids toy box for a few months, so i added a drop of cooking oil, tried to get it to go soft, but it was still brittle and hard, so, I put it in the microwave, switched on, and then BANG and FLASH,like a bomb going off, shook the micro ( and me) a real explosion. The split second before it blew up I saw vapour in the micro ( as I had my face to the door to watch in case it melted to fluid) and it was that that ignited. the plasticine was still sitting on the turntable unharmed. anyone know what is so explosive in plasticine? it could not have been the cooking oil as it is used in the micro everyday without problem. Shortly after, the turntable packed up so we had to dump the micro. be warned..

[Zacs-Master]

Probably a bubble of oil within the plasticine.

[karenmac60]

Are you sure it was Plasticine and not Semtex? ;)

[percypineapple]

You know, I thought about this, and I know that plastic explosive is semtex, and plasticine is plasic sort of stuff, and wondered if they are made from similar things. mind you, the amount i put in the micro would have ( had it been semtex) demolished half of london.

[EDDIE51]

Plasticine does NOT explode , what happened was that there was an air bubble in the plasticine that expanded and caused the bang.
Explosions are simply very, very rapid burning, if something explodes it burns away in a tiny fraction of a second. If your plasticine had exploded it would have vanished.
Try holding the plasticine in your hand for a while to warm it up that is more likedly to soften it than trying to add anything.

[RATTER15]

Plasticine like Eddie said will soften from the warmth of your hand, just keep working and Kneading it.

[heathfield]

Plasticene uses raw linseed oil, which dries out exceptionally slowly, and has its own very distinctive odour.