You seem to be under the impression that I said water + magnesium would cause an explosion. I did not. It will cause a massive flair up, and woe to anyone near it.
A simple distance (not so much) plus rudimentary shielding will protect you from the fireball. The shock wave wonât be much to speak of.
We are talking about a bucket size, at most, not about a burning industrial facility with dozens of tons stocked up.
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You get right on that and let us know what happens when the underwater container cracks and water hits the burning magnesium all at once from every side.
âMental firesâ? Oh, metal fires. Where did I put my glasses.
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Sparklers are hardly âzOMG terrorists!â material; but if I were stuck transporting them in bulk for a living I would give some thought to dust hazards. Even boring stuff like flour and wood dust can ruin your day if somebody hurts its feelings, and low-bidder pyrotechnic slurries arenât likely to be well vetted for abrasion resistance, proper binder mixes between batches, and so on. It isnât nearly as glamorous as âBombs!!!â; but deeply unglamorous industrial hiegene deficiencies kill a lot of hapless workers every year, so keeping them in mind can be a good idea.
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Given the pressure differential, it will either not be all at once due to the overpressure inside the container, or will be confined with the pressure if in sufficient depth for that. In depth, nothing much will happen to be visible from the outside. Near the surface you get rapid vaporization and aerosolization of the fuel, some of which will be wasted because it fails to ignite. Still, no real detonation. Nice whoosh, though.
Thought⌠what about opening that container on purpose with a detcord? Probably not really worth it, as all weâd get in the worst case would be aerosolized particulates of burning magnesium, a rudimentary fuel-air explosive, with a nice visual effect but, in small scale, rather limited destructive potential. Then it is about particle size; we could get a decent dust explosion if the particles are really small, but still nothing much. Good enough to get more dust airborne and ignite that, but we assume a bucket-sized experiment in an open area and not a factory dust explosion.
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That. Flammable dust can be a royal bitch. (Even merely conductive dust, if you have electronics nearby.)
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What the? I though sparklers were supposed to be SAFE fun. Ban them! BAN THEM NOW!!
It is safe fun. You should see the unsafe fun.
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Which part of that do you want on your headstone? Remember⌠they charge by the letter.
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In fairness, pyrokinesis is also something to be treated with additional respect and specialized tools; should you encounter it.
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Hmmm ⌠that skinny magnesium ribbon they always use to ignite the thermite in a chemistry lecture. Will it continue to burn if you dunk it in water? Iâm not sure the water wouldnât put it out. Itâs not as frisky in water as potassium you know, and Iâm not so sure it can keep up with the cooling effect. If it has an oxidizer along, of course, it can burn all day under water.
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Depends probably on the configuration of the metal, how much heat will be produced vs conducted away. If the reaction zone gets cooled too much, the reaction ceases and the fire is extinguished. (Check out the same effect by burning smaller amount of magnesium or magnalium shavings on a cold brick. Youâre likely to end up with some unburnt shavings on the brick that werenât able to get heated enough.)
As of the ribbon, I am not certain. May need an experiment. Will certainly burn for at least a while.
Beware of powders. The steam produced could aerosolize them quite well.
You can also boil the water. Many metals burn in steam; a lot of research is done on the zirconium-steam fires, because of nuclear reactors.
Edit: Magnesium ribbon wonât burn in water. The heat transfer away is apparently too much. It will however burn brighter when sprayed with water.
Edit: Even more compact chunk of magnesium will be extinguished, just will take a little more.
I assume a much bigger block of burning metal could be more dramatic. But magnesium is no potassium.
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Ah, so thatâs when @art_carnage jumped the snark.
Jesus, itâs just a TV show. I think theyâve done a lot of good even if they have had trouble with scientific rigor, or âmythâ creativity.
At least they got rid of their âurban folkloristâ early on. Iâm sure sheâs much happier giving cold-readings to idiots at carnivals now.
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Who told you my real name?
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You know whatâs coincidentally hilarious? Iâve been watching âYour Grammar Sucksâ videos on Youtube all day.
Yup. âFriskyâ is a technical term, by the way. A civilian would say âexplodeâ, but then youâd have all the Arnie Gundersen types coming along with a supercilious discourse on deflagration, so letâs just say frisky. Itâs good to wear goggles and/or stand back away from the friskinessâŚ
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There seems to be a few channels of Ukrainians in disputed areas who simply have zero fucks left to give as to personal safety. The one of the guys with mounting a magnetron out of a microwave on a stick and aiming it at things, ending with dude in a field on a clear day with thunder booming all around - when you realize that sound is a bombing run near him.
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