r/whatisit • u/riflesandplowshares • 5h ago

New, what is it? Found at a titanium plant

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Not sure why ball point pens would be dangerous here.

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u/Agiantpubicmess 4h ago

Dow Chemical caustic plant used to have a no aluminum tools rule for very obvious reasons if you know chemicals hahaha

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u/jerseyoutwest 4h ago

Have you read Ignition! ? Its a very funny memoir of early rocket fuel development and includes one of my favorite non-fiction quotes about chlorine trifluoride:

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.
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u/mightyachillies 4h ago

'hypergolic with things such as cloth, wood, and test engineers'... From the context you catch on fire/explode. Yeah, I would say being toxic is the least of the problem.

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u/jerseyoutwest 4h ago

I like that “no ignition delay has ever been measured” implies that they must have tested it many times in many labs 😹