• Alexander Daychilde@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      I know this is completely off topic, but one of the better Things I Won’t Work With entries about chlorine triflouride:

      It 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. It can be kept in some of the ordinary structural metals-steel, copper, aluminium, 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 aluminium 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.

      You can find all of the blogs here and I highly recommend them.

      • UniversalBasicJustice@quokk.au
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        12 hours ago

        Hell yeah love that blog. I should see if Triethylaluminium is in there…I briefly had an internship working with it and handling pyrophorics in a vacuum glove box was a certain sort of thrill to be sure.

      • Mnem667@sh.itjust.works
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        15 hours ago

        Thank you for linking that blog. I <3 that whole series, and coincidentally noticed my bookmark no longer worked over the weekend.