# Homemade Lead Nitrate Revised 2025-07-13 Author: MeWe's Viking Child HNO3 (nitric acid) H2SO4 (sulfuric acid) Pb (lead) ### Outdoor Activity Only Some of this information is technical but that's for the chemists among us. The advanced members agree that this experiment can be performed by an inexperienced user. --- Use a 500ml beaker or preferably an Erlenmeyer flask and add 250ml of distilled water to it. Add 125 grams (0.3774 moles) of lead (preferably without any trace copper), then slowly add 40ml (0.628 moles) of 70% HNO3. It will begin to bubble hydrogen gas, which is highly flammable. No smoking. Let it sit for 3 or 4 days. Come back to it. If it is no longer bubbling, then it is done. There should be some lead fragments remaining. If there is no lead remaining, then add another 10 grams of lead. Let it rest another day, repeat until lead remains. You may remove remaining undissolved lead with tweezers, then gravity filter solution with a good quality filter paper or a double coffee filter. Place the filtrate (liquid) out on to two 16-inch diameter glass dishes to air dry. Old microwave dishes work great. Any white residue remaining in the filter are contaminants that may include antimony. Elevate the dishes from the ground, so that animals or critters do not get to them. Never leave dishes to dry inside living spaces, a detached garage or shed is best. I would open the garage door about two inches from the floor if you were using an attached garage. There should be approximately 104 grams of Lead Nitrate crystals remaining after evaporation is complete. They will look like small clear pyramids. --- A few points, homemade lead nitrate can be made by purchasing 70 percent HNO3 and using clean or scrap lead. If you cannot or don’t want to purchase HNO3 and want to make HNO3, it will require the purchase of nitrate salts and H2SO4 or processing liquid drain opener to make reagent grade H2SO4. These are added procedures. Having said that, you cannot advance to nitrocellulose among other things without that knowledge. Note: There are three key pieces of information that are required to make different amounts of lead nitrate: 1. the solubility of lead nitrate in water, which is 56.5g/100 ml at 20 C. 2. the use of HNO3 as the limiting reagent for the reaction (the limiting reagent is the chemical which is used up fully in the reaction). 3. For the reactants, the molar ratio 2:1, two moles of HNO3 are required for one mole of Pb. 1. Disclaimer, handling lead can be hazardous to your health. --- Sources for Acid are Ace Hardware and Walmart RotoRoot Drain Cleaner 93% (Ace Hardware) 1/2 Gal $16.99 https://www.acehardware.com/departments/plumbing/drain-openers/drain-cleaners/42790 Liquid Fire 92.3% (Ace Hardware) 1 Gal $32.99 https://www.acehardware.com/departments/plumbing/drain-openers/drain-cleaners/4100475 Nitric Acid (Walmart) 69.9% 32oz $31.88 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Nitric-Acid-69-9-32-ounces/430846638?from=/search ---  --- ### A Question about Antimony: [[Antimony will not Dissolve]] Mark Wilson: My microwave dish came from a recycled microwave from Goodwill. ---