18 Apr
2005
18 Apr
'05
7:10 p.m.
We used to live dangerously as kids (a different time, perhaps?) and there
was a company that had 55 gallon drums of magnesium turnings in the back--
I know OSHA or some other agency would likely have shut them down long ago
these days. But we managed to climb the fence and steal a few paper grocery
bags partially filled with it.
What a fourth of July we had that year. We'd take smaller lunch-bag size
paper bags, line the bottom with about a half inch of shavings, roll it up
into a flat packet about 3-1/2 x 5 inches, and take them to the fireworks
at the lake front. Up on the hill, away from the crowds, we'd line up a few
about 10 feet apart and stake them to the ground with a sparkler. Plenty
hot to ignite the magnesium. The sparker would burn down to the packet,
which would then go up in a brilliant display, visible from all over the
place.
I suppose we had little idea how dangerous it was to store the stuff in the
house and carry it around.
At 09:17 AM 4/18/2005 -0700, you wrote:
Many years ago, I did some machine work on magnesium
and kept the chips.
At some point, I wanted to see how it would burn and put a small pile of
chips on the sidewalk and lit it with a match. Burned *very* nicely all
the way up to the time the concrete exploded from all the heat being
generated (and probably moisture from rain the day before.) It left a
scar above one eye and put a hole in my dads brand new convertable top.
People still wonder how I managed to live this long :).
> > Alex wrote:
> >> No need to worry - trying to get a magnesium case to burn is _hard_
> >
> > Actually, it's very easy. You just grind it up into powder first.
> > Time-consuming, but not particularly difficult.
> >
> Once a small part is ignited, it will burn quite well in solid chunks if
> it gets enough oxygen.
> A bit of iron oxide can make the situation very interesting.
>
> Drilling or grinding magnesium without proper precautions is risky.
> Welding is done with inert gas, so that is usually quite safe.
>
> --
> Bj??rn
>
[Computing] "The complex-type shall be a simple-type." --ISO
10206:1991 (Extended Pascal)
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