[ale] Thermite party

[Tom Freeman]

On Tue, 28 Dec 2010, Greg Freemyer wrote:

> On Tue, Dec 28, 2010 at 12:14 PM, Paul Cartwright <ale at pcartwright.com> wrote:
>> On 12/28/2010 11:50 AM, Greg Freemyer wrote:
<<snip>>
>
> I've never experimented with this stuff.  How bad is the clean up?
> ie. If the drives were set out on the base paths between first and
> second, how hard is it to pick up the debris?
>
> I assume it would kill any grass, so base paths of that baseball field
> sounds ideal if clean up is easy.
<<snip>>

I haven't set off more than an ounce of thermite at a time, and that 
inside a clay pot. That said...

The products of thermit are liquid iron (not a hazzard, easy to pickup 
later) and aluminum oxide which will pulverize to a sand like stuff. The 
risks are with the stuff in the hard disk components. Work on a pad of 
concrete, and things will stay pretty much in place. Probably also true on 
Georgia red clay.

The circuit boards probably have material which will form gasses, and tend 
to scatter the burning thermite. Supercaps with their liquid cores would 
be one example.

Retrieval of the magnets would probably be worth while also, given the 
state of the market in rare earths.

Just off the top of my head for the moment.

OTOH, I hope I can either see the video or attend the event!