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OLD ORCHARD BEACH, Maine — Maine's state fire marshal says a man burned down his parents' house and killed three pets while trying to exterminate ants in his basement with matches.
Investigators say 21-year-old Devon Doucette was trying to incinerate the ants with wooden matches when one of them ignited combustible materials. The fire quickly spread to the rest of the house.
[...] Authorities say the fire killed two cats and one dog. They say charges are not likely.
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Man Accidentally Burns Down Parents' House, Killing Cats, Dog, in Attempt to Exterminate Ants
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F.S. Fitzgerald to Hemingway:
"Ernest, the rich are different from us."
Hemingway:
"Yes. They have more money."
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Sunday April 02 2017, @05:41AM (1 child)
It's probably not a thing. It just happen to kill things and damage (human) lungs. But it can be produced without source chemicals and has high potency. Production rate is perhaps low however.
As for practical production one could use zeolite [wikipedia.org] to filter out oxygen using pressure swing or if cheaper just buy oxygen. Another method is to electrolysis of water and using the oxygen part to feed a spark chamber that feeds whatever space that needs ozone. Pay attention to the fact that ozone will also have it's way with rubber sealing and all kinds of things, including your lungs. The nice thing with ozone is that it has a half life less than a day and breaks down to.. plain oxygen. The concentration to kill bed bugs needs to be 1800 ppm according to one company.* [foreverozone.com]. One unit is specified as producing 0.02 kg/hour of O3. Given a required 1800 ppm that would kill all the bugs in a 10 m³ space within one hour.
Another method is hydrogen cyanide which can be had from ammonia. Efficient, but it's extremely toxic and more complicated to make and probably to be sure it's gone later.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Sunday April 02 2017, @12:52PM
Another method is hydrogen cyanide which can be had from ammonia. Efficient, but it's extremely toxic and more complicated to make and probably to be sure it's gone later.
Chemical warfare is the way to go. In general. Specifically vs ants, their oils are delicate and you can either whack them with a different oil (citrus oil degreaser, perhaps) or mineral spirits. Mineral spirits can be set on fire, its harder than gasoline or matches but that achievement can be unlocked with enough effort.
To some extent ant infestations are like stump removal, where doing it the "right way" is easy and only moderately expensive so naturally people F around with all kinds of ridiculous stuff instead.
Outdoors a pot of boiling water will take care of the problem. Its a good excuse to get out the turkey fryer and do a Lenten fish fry and then dump the oil into the ant hill. I wear my aluminum casting safety gear while doing that... I woudn't recommend doing that if you're a nudist.