A lot of cars use magnesium in components to save weight. Another hazard for firefighters in addition to the batteries / fuel tanks, airbags, tyres, etc.
Burning a Magnesium NeXT Cube (1993)
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Re: Burning a Magnesium NeXT Cube (1993)
#22I imagine having a lab full of these during a fire would be...inconvenient.
Re: Burning a Magnesium NeXT Cube (1993)
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
At the top, it has what looks like part of an email, addressed to "Dan Ruby, Editor, NeXTWORLD Magazine". I'm guessing "you" is Dan, and the narrator is "Simson L. Garfinkel, Senior Editor, NeXTWORLD Magazine"
yes totally missed it thanks. o found it at the end , being a note to Dan. had me scroll back to top :') totally comment too soon!
Dear Dan,
I am so sorry I went to such great lengths to incinerate what was meant to be your computer.
LOL
Re: Burning a Magnesium NeXT Cube (1993)
#24Knowing magnesium burns as brightly as it does and is so difficult to put out once lit, having done both as a kid, I'd always just assumed magnesium was the name of the paint color or something - not what it was really made out of. As they'd mentioned briefly in the article, water just makes the flame worse rather than better.
Seems like asking for trouble, but perhaps it's enough of a pain to light initially that it's not a concern?
Re: Burning a Magnesium NeXT Cube (1993)
#25I make videos of burning foods like jelly beans for fun, with the idea that if something catches fire easily it's probably not good for you due to calorie density and low water content and, by proxy, lack of nutrition and unnatural components like petroleum based vax. For example, honey will not ignite unless dehydrated first.
Re: Burning a Magnesium NeXT Cube (1993)
#26This reminds me of burning scrap VW engine blocks or transmission cases. It can be done on an ordinary wood camp fire. You'll probably want to cut up the scrap into more manageable chunks rather than go for the whole thing at once. Then, toss a few into the hottest part of the fire. For about a half hour, nothing will happen. Then, the chunks will begin to melt, forming puddles onto the bed of coals, where they will ignite.
It is interesting that the pools of liquid metal burn quite slowly in the middle of the regular fire; you will only get a bright orange flame rather than the spectacle promised. Maybe only 5x as bright as a normal fire. But, if you scoop some up onto a stick (a long piece of steel angle iron is recommended) and pull it out of the fire into open air, it will burn with the brilliant white flame with which you are generally familiar.
For the finale, plunge the end of the stick into a large bucket of water, where you will observe the magnesium blob continue to burn while submerged for several seconds. Do not attempt to do this the opposite way by dumping the bucket onto the fire; an explosion will result instead. In fact, keep all moisture away from the fire in general. If you need to put the fire out for any reason, too bad.
After the fire burns itself out, the next day you might find some solidified blobs of unburnt magnesium. Be sure to remove all of these so you do not have an unexpected experience the next time you have a fire there. I have quite a nice piece where the magnesium flowed around a stick, but did not ignite.
This comment comes with the obvious disclaimer that nobody anywhere should try this for any reason, especially not the reason of fun.
Re: Burning a Magnesium NeXT Cube (1993)
#27This reminds me of burning scrap VW engine blocks or transmission cases. It can be done on an ordinary wood camp fire. You'll probably want to cut up the scrap into more manageable chunks rather than go for the whole thing at once. Then, toss a few into the hottest part of the fire. For about a half hour, nothing will happen. Then, the chunks will begin to melt, forming puddles onto the bed of coals, where they will…
Wouldn’t a sufficient amount of sand (eventually) put out the fire?
Re: Burning a Magnesium NeXT Cube (1993)
#28Is it just me or does this read a little boring and a lot longer than it should..? So much of the email is just him calling random people... whole paragraphs of it
TL;DR: Guy wants to burn a computer. He burns two computers.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nitroba/albums/721575944354804...
Re: Burning a Magnesium NeXT Cube (1993)
#29I make videos of burning foods like jelly beans for fun, with the idea that if something catches fire easily it's probably not good for you due to calorie density and low water content and, by proxy, lack of nutrition and unnatural components like petroleum based vax. For example, honey will not ignite unless dehydrated first.
High fructose corn syrup won't either.
Re: Burning a Magnesium NeXT Cube (1993)
#30I make videos of burning foods like jelly beans for fun, with the idea that if something catches fire easily it's probably not good for you due to calorie density and low water content and, by proxy, lack of nutrition and unnatural components like petroleum based vax. For example, honey will not ignite unless dehydrated first.
A friend and I lit a bag of Funyuns in an ashtray as kids, we almost burned his house down.