Re: Expriment producing sparks with aluminium foil wraped round two balls banged together.

Lee Marek must have big balls. I hope it did not hurt much
when he banged them together. ;-)

I had some thermite once, I thought that it was magnesium and aluminum.
Hard to light, but very good when it did burn. I used a magnesium strip
to start the combustion process.

>From a web source:
"EXOTIC THERMITES: Thermites can also be made from teflon-magnesium or metal
flourides-magnesium or aluminum. If there is an excess of flouride compound
in the mixture, flourine gas can be released. Flourine is extremely
corrosive and reactive. The gas can cause organic material to burst into
flames by mere contact. For teflon-magnesium use 67% teflon and 33%
magnesium
A strong first fire igniter should be used to ignite this mixture. Both the
teflon and the magnesium should be in powdered form. Do not inhale any
smoke from the burning mixture.
If you use metal-florides instead of teflon, use flourides of low energy
metals. Lead flouride is a good example. Try using 90% lead flouride and
10% aluminum.
Warning: Flouride compounds can be very poisonous. They are approximately
equal to cyanide compounds.
Another exotic mix is tricalcium orthophosphate and aluminum. When this
burns,it forms calcium phosphide which when contacts water releases hydrogen
phosphide which can ignite spontaneously in air.
Tricalcium orthophosphate has the formula Ca3(PO4)2 and is known as white-
lockite. Use about 75% orthophosphate and 25% aluminum. This ratio may have
to be altered for better burning as I have not experimented with it much and
don't know if more aluminum may reduce the calcium better. It does work but
it is a hard to ignite mixture. A first fire mix containing a few percent
of magnesium works well."

Tom.

"Eamonn" <eamonnhughes@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1130615245.916194.39460@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> I remember seing Lee Marek do this on the David Lertterman show.
>
> I have tried to repeat it with no success.
>
> He had two balls, they looked quite heavy, which he wrapped in
> aluminium foil. When banged together sparks were produced.
>
> I thought it might be the same reaction as thermite the balls may have
> been iron with a coating of rust and banging them together providing
> the energy for a localized thermite reaction.
>
> Eamonn
>


.

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