3 ms·

FOOF is my favorite. Come for an analysis of Streng's papers and stay for Satan's kimchee.

• cushychicken 4y ago
  At seven hundred freaking degrees, fluorine starts to dissociate into monoatomic radicals, thereby losing its gentle and forgiving nature. Referring to fluorine’s “gentle and forgiving nature” got a good laugh out of my wife, who has a chemistry degree. It also got me a good education about just how gross elemental fluorine is.
• ikiris 4y ago
  F is for Flags, they be of red.
• erik_seaberg 4y ago
  I first read https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/sand-won-t-save-you-time https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/sand-won-t-save-yo... so I will always have a soft spot for it. "[...] it can potentially go on to “burn” things that you would normally consider already burnt to hell and gone, and a practical consequence of that is that it’ll start roaring reactions with things like bricks and asbestos tile."
  • jiggawatts 4y ago
    If you keep researching, it’s a fun rabbit hole of the Internet to go down. The Material Safety Data Sheet from one of the few(!) manufacturers is… something else. The MSDS warnings for ClF3 read like the State Department travel advisory warnings for Bhakmut.
  • robinsonb5 4y ago
    That was my introduction to the series, too - certainly a classic! (I have a vague recollection that it was linked to from DansData at some point, but couldn't swear to it.)
• rwmj 4y ago
  FOOF - https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/things-i-won-t-work-dioxygen-difluoride https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/things-i-won-t-wor...
  • jsrcout 4y ago
    Love his writing so much. Always entertaining and informative. > This stuff was first prepared in Germany in 1932 by Ruff and Menzel, who must have been likely lads indeed, because it's not like people didn't respect fluorine back then.