"a day that I'm sure no one involved ever forgot"

[beige_alert]

You can put out a fire by covering it with sand. Unless your fire involves something that can burn sand. In this great post about chlorine trifluoride in Derek Lowe's "things I won't work with" series, we read, "one commenter mentioned the utility of the good old sand bucket, and wondered if there was anything that would go on to set the sand on fire. Thanks to a note from reader Robert L., I can report that there is indeed such a reagent: chlorine trifluoride." Do read the whole thing, and don't miss the (PDF) Air Products Safetygram about the stuff, which includes the gem "one eyewitness described the incident by stating, 'the concrete was on fire!'"

Comments

[asknosecrets.livejournal.com]

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No, I got nuthin.

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

I'm not actually a chemist, and I'd never heard of chlorine trifluoride, but my knowledge of chemistry is sufficient that as soon as I saw it named, I was sure it was something I didn't want to be involved with.

In the first link, I particularly appreciated the inclusion of "test engineers" in the list of substances it's hypergolic with...

[dragonbane.livejournal.com]

Excellent! ...and I'm totally creating that in our Mage game. :)

[bigbumble.livejournal.com]

When I was in graduate school I worked in a lab with a cylinder of oxygen difluoride OF2 and a cylinder of nitrogen trifluoride NF3. They were left overs from the professors Air Force research days. I tended to give those cylinders a wide berth.

[rinioth.livejournal.com]

Sent the link to my Forensic-science undergrad daughter, maybe if she ever finds a burnt concrete hole at a crime site it will help her solve the case.

[hsifyppah.livejournal.com]

Hee hee, the safetygram was roundly enjoyed here. "Hey, that chicken doesn't look very raw..."