Now that's a surprise.Originally Posted by zelph
Skids
Insanity: Asking about inseams over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein, (attributed)
I'm striving for a 2 min boil in a driving rainstorm using the "TwiLyte" burner filled with fire magic. As everyone knows, water enhances the burn rate of magnesium.Now that's a surprise.
VW trannies, mag wheels, some bicycle frames, and lots of lawn mower decks are nightmares for firefighters. If any of those are involved in a house fire the party's over. Water on burning magnesium decomposes into hydrogen (a fuel, think 'Hindenburg') and oxygen. If a mag fire starts during a structural fire the procedure is to stop using water. That usually means the firemen pull back and break out the marshmellows.
So where's your lawnmower stored right now? In your garage?
You never turned around to see the frowns
On the jugglers and the clowns
When they all did tricks for you.
Potasium nitrate by itself is kid stuff
My occupation requires a fair amount of exothermic welding. Never a dull moment, particularly when it rains!I'm striving for a 2 min boil in a driving rainstorm using the "TwiLyte" burner filled with fire magic. As everyone knows, water enhances the burn rate of magnesium.
Skids
Insanity: Asking about inseams over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein, (attributed)
Zelph out of respect for your well being, I won't tell you the name of the seller but I'm sure if you go on Whee!-bay and do a search for "the metal from hell" he should pop right up. All I can remember is his first name is Omar.
Has anyone had any experience with calcium carbonate? We used to make a cannon out of an old milk can, cc and water. Big Boom! Not to be used for cooking.
Turtle2
a friend that owned a VW shop years ago use to have a block burn every Christmas...good times.
I can see this turning into a fun with chemistry thread.
Water or vinegar?
These days kids use dry ice. I had to show ID the last time I bought it.
You never turned around to see the frowns
On the jugglers and the clowns
When they all did tricks for you.
This is all thats left of whee-bay:This is their siteOnline Auction
"Whee-Bay"
Thank you to everyone who participated in the auction!
Please contact Maria Crawford by email at [email protected]
I was serious about buying, were you serious about selling?
I'm familiar with fire making chemicals, don't worry about my well being.
Umm..I think you can trust Zelph on this one, NB.
Skids
Insanity: Asking about inseams over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein, (attributed)
I'd be happy to sell it to you but you have to take the shirt too. PM me. You're not an ATF operative are you?
I'm not ATF. I'm STOVIE
I would also be willing to buy some of the Magnesium if Zelph doesn't get it all.
"For those who understand, no explanation is needed; for those who do not, none will do." ---Jerry Lewis
[quote=No Belay;339051]Was on Whee-bay a couple of weeks ago and saw a listing for magnesium shavings to use as fire starters. Thought "this has got to be cool" and bought a pound. I was expecting a sandwich bag full but when it got here, I was surprised to see it was a gallon zip-lock full of saw shavings and little fuzzy balls coated in gun powder. Thought "this really is cool."
quote]
My educated guess is the fuzzy balls coated in gun powder was the cause of your problem. Gun powder that came off the fuzzy balls and mixed in with the magnesium would certainly cause the reaction that you experienced.
We don't want everyone to believe that the magnesium associated with fire making is as dangerous as you show in this thread. We need to be cautious with all matters pertaining to fire.
We appreciate the sharing of your information.
We need to be cautious of the materials purchased from the internet, especially chemicals.
I suggest you not sell the the remaining magnesium that you have.
Zelph
Petroluem based brake fluid (or maybe it's automatic transmission fluid) and powdered chlorine pool shock...
Similar story... my dad and I mostly wound up with bruises and a few burn splatters from diving off the back patio (at least we did it outside, but unfortunately my mom walked into the kitchen - aka with full view - right when it went off) away from the 6-foot fireball...
Magnesium is not listed as an explosive by ATF:
http://www.atf.gov/explarson/explosives-list.htm
You will note that "magnesium ophorite" is; that is an explosive made by combining magnesium powder with potassium chlorate. (Potassium chlorate is nasty stuff.)
A few safety rules about magnesium itself:
As the OP re-discovered by experiment, magnesium burns vigorously when a sufficient ignition temperature is reached, and burns with an exceedingly brilliant light. It can damage your retina to look straight at a magnesium fire without eye protection. Don't do that.
The smoke from magnesium fires can contain particulate magnesium oxide. Magnesium oxide reacts with water to form magnesium hydroxide. In other words, breathing smoke from magnesium fires is essentially like taking a shot of Drano to the bronchial passages. Don't do that, either. By all reports, it causes considerable discomfort.
Cold magnesium reacts slowly with water, but, as noted earlier by an experienced welder, hot magnesium and water react vigorously to yield hydrogen gas. If you can't douse it with enough water to cool it IMMEDIATELY ON CONTACT, do not throw water on a magnesium fire or on hot magnesium. Water can be useful for keeping magnesium filings from getting hot in the first place, if you mind what you're doing, but the metal will oxidize in the water. So, magnesium with lots of cool water: OK, kind of, but of course it will corrode and not burn anymore. Hot magnesium with less water than needed to cool it instantaneously: A Big No-No.
Hot magnesium also reacts exothermically (gives off additional heat) with carbon dioxide and carbon halides. In general, remember that fire extinguishers not rated for metal fires are not only ineffective on metal fires, but can even be worse than nothing.
Dry sand is good for putting out magnesium fires, though.
IOW, if you have magnesium filings, it is in your best interest to be scrupulous in keeping them both dry and cool until you mean to ignite them, and to consider whether the setting is safe before you ignite them....again, as the OP re-discovered by experiment.
Keep in mind, too, if you were to have a little brushfire near your pack that having finely-divided magnesium in there would not be your first wish.
USDOT does regulate transportation of magnesium in the form of pellets, turnings, or ribbons, as it is a flammable solid. Magnesium powder is classified by USDOT as dangerous when wet and spontaneously combustible. I haven't checked, but probably the post office isn't thrilled with finely divided magnesium metal, either. They undoubtedly are quite particular about how you package the material and how you mark the outside of the package.
Mailing stuff that the post office thinks is dangerous without following their rules has this nasty way of getting Homeland Security or the FBI involved, and those people have a marked lack in their sense of humor and sense of proportion about these things. To corrupt the old maxim: the FBI ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. Do be careful.
Just one more thought....
Smokey the Bear says,
"Keep your pyrotechnics on your concrete patio or in your sandbox, and away from the woods!"
Last night on Comedy Central there was a very funny new show about people living in a halfway house.
One of them was a Pyro.
He would have loved that first post description.
By the way, that was a really funny show (and post)
peace
mf
Trail name: Farenheit
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