Thermite Reaction Gone Bad!

My chemistry professor demonstrating a thermite reaction when all goes wrong.

[samuelvasilevskiy]

Everything else aside, props to the professor to be able to play it off and continue teaching. I'm sure his heart dropped when it happened

[esol]

This wasn't actually all that bad. Nobody got hurt, nothing got seriously damaged, and the class learned something that they'll remember forever. NOBODY is going to forget that demonstration.

[charliedavis]

haha... words you don't wanna hear from your chemistry teacher "that's not good"

[KatherineClairmont]

I have a theory, which is that all chemistry professors are also pyromaniacs

[topnotcheljefe]

This guy makes the crazy Russian hacker seem very caring about actual safety

[TeganX]

I was at UIUC in about 1991-92 so, one floor above Dr. Steven Zumdahl (his chem text was the AP textbook for many, many years) was doing this demo in front of visiting middle and high school students.  He was wearing proper safety equipment, but never put up a blast shield.  The reaction got out of control, and showered the front rows with iron, hot water, and glass.  I remember multiple ambulances and police cars tearing across the quad to get to the building.

Even great professors seem to forget about how dangerous some demos really can be.

[scottgrindrod]

I'm a chemist here, and I can tell you that this is a popular class demonstration that often gets messed up.

First mistake was to begin the reaction by lighting magnesium on fire. It's why his flower pot cracks. This reaction should be started with KMnO4 and a couple drops of sulfuric acid for a few reasons.

1) It gives you a chance to talk about catalysis and redox reactions more, and 2) it controls the rate of the reaction better so you don't end up with a busted flower pot.

By using a chemical initiation instead of a thermal one, you end up with a lovely stream of molten Iron coming out of the hole in the bottom of the pot into the bucket of rocks below because the reaction progresses more slowly through the powered Aluminum/Rust mixture. DO NOT PUT WATER INTO THE I cannot stress that enough as you will cause a steam explosion.

[andyboys]

Good thing that floor wasn't made of steel beams.

[balto]

i thought it was a termite reaction gone wrong,
and he was going to be eaten by termites

[Ethotron]

Thermite burns at fricken 2500 Celsius, AND HES DOING IT INDOORS,

[Sploot.]

Dr Jim is now showing us this video about why he cannot perform this experiment in class anymore.

[Zenniverse]

"It can melt metal." *Uses metal bucket*

[intensetbug]

I think its his first time doing this for three reasons. First because he should not be wearing a shirt made out of oil like polyester because if it hits his shirt or pants (witch i think is also made out of synthetic material). Then he should have made the distance between the bucket and the small pot to prevent the molten material jumping out. Anybody who would have used thermite before would know that it does that. And third everybody should know that howitzers are not made of just iron.

[ericbuckland]

this is much better than the intended result.

[mytc]

@Eleo235 You just had the wrong professor then! Dr. Jim was pretty epic, he often put on an hour-long "magic show" that featured all of his best demonstrations from the year. He was also a very lively and entertaining teacher too. Definitely one of my favorite instructors ever.

[bobdobb]

The teacher is a total professional. What you don't see is that one student was lit on fire, and while the teacher kept lecturing the student jumped all over on fire. Eventually the student was reduced to a black smoldering stain. The teacher nonchalantly swept the stain into a trash bin and calmly kept lecturing. He even warned other students: "If any of you report this kid's demise, remember I've got more thermite."

[megavoyager]

that's brilliant !  the guy isn't an idiot - he's bringing chemistry alive for students.  the quantities he was using, it wasn't really that dangerous.  it would have been great to be there.  chemistry labs are supposed to bear the stains and scars of the reactions they hosted !

[rollingpaulo]

errr safety glasses! Replacement of eyeballs its a difficult process!

[SuperDachshund]

Hmmmm. . .indoors, steel bucket below, no brick containment.  Somebody didn't think this all the way through.

[austinh]

this is my professor, and he showed us the video in class today.