3 ms·
https://interestingengineering.com/science/chlorine-trifluoride-set-fire-glass https://interestingengineering.com/science/chlorine-trifluor... > ”is, of c
by dtx1 3y ago
https://interestingengineering.com/science/chlorine-trifluoride-set-fire-glass https://interestingengineering.com/science/chlorine-trifluor...
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”is, of course, extremely toxic, but that’s the least of the problem. It is hypergolic with every known fuel, and so rapidly hypergolic that no ignition delay has ever been measured. It is also hypergolic with such things as cloth, wood, and test engineers, not to mention asbestos, sand, and water-with which it reacts explosively." He continues, "It can be kept in some of the ordinary structural metals-steel, copper, aluminum, etc.-because of the formation of a thin film of insoluble metal fluoride which protects the bulk of the metal, just as the invisible coat of oxide on aluminum keeps it from burning up in the atmosphere. If, however, this coat is melted or scrubbed off, and has no chance to reform, the operator is confronted with the problem of coping with a metal-fluorine fire. For dealing with this situation, I have always recommended a good pair of running shoes.”
- ChrisMarshallNY 3y agoI don't have the link, but Derek Lowe did a great In The Pipeline on this stuff.
- scrlk 3y agohttps://www.science.org/content/blog-post/sand-won-t-save-you-time https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/sand-won-t-save-yo... All posts under the "Things I Won't Work With" series: https://www.science.org/topic/blog-category/things-i-wont-work-with https://www.science.org/topic/blog-category/things-i-wont-wo...
- ChrisMarshallNY 3y agoThanks! I was on my phone, and realized I hadn’t bookmarked it. I like all the stuff he did in that series, so the second link is great!
- ChrisMarshallNY 3y agoJust FYI, for some reason, the embedded video in this post[0] does not work. Here it is on YouTube[1]. [0] https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/chlorine-trifluoride-some-empirical-findings https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/chlorine-trifluori... [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4l56AfUTnQ&t=1s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4l56AfUTnQ&t=1s
- ChrisMarshallNY 3y agoAnd I enjoyed this one, almost as much as the OP: 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... This is my favorite quote: > And that's at room temperature. At seven hundred freaking degrees, fluorine starts to dissociate into monoatomic radicals, thereby losing its gentle and forgiving nature.