4 ms·

Is there a fire risk with MS building the cases out of magnesium? Magnesium fires are intense and difficult to put out. I can't imagine MS is going to put out

Is there a fire risk with MS building the cases out of magnesium? Magnesium fires are intense and difficult to put out. I can't imagine MS is going to put out a product that oxidizes violently, so how will they prevent it? Can MgO retain the look (everything I've seen of MgO is a white powder)?

pohl 14y ago
I bet the temperature to get magnesium to ignite is much higher than the devices would naturally produce or be exposed to. The only burning magnesium I've ever witnessed was either ground into a powder or in thin strips. It probably wouldn't burn so well in bulk. This was the first thing that popped into my mind on Monday, though. The original NeXT cubes were built out of magnesium, and after NeXT left the hardware business someone famously burned an old cube. If I recall correctly, it took quite a lot of effort to get it burning. The tale of the burning incident is here: http://simson.net/hacks/cubefire.html http://simson.net/hacks/cubefire.html As you know, years ago, when NeXT first contemplated making computers, Steve Jobs decided that machines should be in the shape of a cube, and that they should be built from cast magnesium. Although magnesium is a relatively expensive metal, it is remarkably strong and lightweight. No doubt, this let NeXT save on shipping expenses, although the added handling and manufacturing costs was one of the factors which led to the cube's high cost. At the time that NeXT brought their system to market, the only other company to incorporate a magnesium case was Grid, which was making a portable computer. (I am told that Apple also uses magnesium for the inside case of its Duo computers, but I haven't been able to verify this fact...
- SoftwareMaven 14y ago
  Thank you for that link. It was a very entertaining read.
grannyg00se 14y ago
It's alloy, not pure magnesium, so it doesn't ignite at the same temperature. The article states that ignition temp is 650 Celsius which is pretty damn hot (compared to 475 or so for mag ribbon). I bet you'd have a hard time getting it to ignite even if you deliberately tried, because the heat is going to rapidly dissipate across the unit.

pohl 14y ago

I bet the temperature to get magnesium to ignite is much higher than the devices would naturally produce or be exposed to. The only burning magnesium I've ever witnessed was either ground into a powder or in thin strips. It probably wouldn't burn so well in bulk. This was the first thing that popped into my mind on Monday, though. The original NeXT cubes were built out of magnesium, and after NeXT left the hardware business someone famously burned an old cube. If I recall correctly, it took quite a lot of effort to get it burning. The tale of the burning incident is here: http://simson.net/hacks/cubefire.html http://simson.net/hacks/cubefire.html As you know, years ago, when NeXT first contemplated making computers, Steve Jobs decided that machines should be in the shape of a cube, and that they should be built from cast magnesium. Although magnesium is a relatively expensive metal, it is remarkably strong and lightweight. No doubt, this let NeXT save on shipping expenses, although the added handling and manufacturing costs was one of the factors which led to the cube's high cost. At the time that NeXT brought their system to market, the only other company to incorporate a magnesium case was Grid, which was making a portable computer. (I am told that Apple also uses magnesium for the inside case of its Duo computers, but I haven't been able to verify this fact...

SoftwareMaven 14y ago
Thank you for that link. It was a very entertaining read.

grannyg00se 14y ago

It's alloy, not pure magnesium, so it doesn't ignite at the same temperature. The article states that ignition temp is 650 Celsius which is pretty damn hot (compared to 475 or so for mag ribbon). I bet you'd have a hard time getting it to ignite even if you deliberately tried, because the heat is going to rapidly dissipate across the unit.