#cellulose nitrate

[stone-cold-groove]

Cellulose plastics are lightweight! Ad for Hercules cellulose products - 1944.

[fromthedust]

cellulose nitrate dice

Cellulose nitrate was used to make dice from the late 1860s until the middle of the twentieth century, and the material remains stable for decades. Then, in a flash, they can dramatically decompose. Nitric acid is released in a process called outgassing. The dice cleave, crumble, and then implode.

[fuerzaymaldad]

Dice can "dramatically decompose" (Source)

[hspdigitallibrary]

Three examples of what happens when you image a cellulose nitrate negative that has started to deteriorate.

First image: negative was imaged as a color positive, produces a facsimile of the negative as it looks to the naked eye [nitrate deterioration is pink!]

Second image: negative was imaged as color negative, producing a vivid green from the pink damage.

Third image: negative was imaged as b&w negative, but the green haze remains.

Ghostbusters!

-Sam

[1863-project]

my number one contribution to my conservation and preservation class is jokes about cellulose nitrate film exploding

[conservethis]

Comparison of burn-tests for three kinds of motion picture film bases

[1863-project]

Archiving and restoring films is actually one of the hardest things in the entire world and this is why I spend a disproportionate amount of time talking about how much I hate cellulose nitrate