GT40s.com - View Single Post - magnesium in GT's interior; is this dangerous?

Paul Thompson 'Hooligan' · 02-27-07, 03:25 PM

Hi Lynn -

I am certainly no expert, but I would have thought that any magnesium used would be in a thickish section/casting and as such would require a lot of heat before it achieved a sustainable ignition. The magnesium ribbon we used to ignite at school was only about 0.25" wide and a few thou thick. With the heat required to ignite it, an occupant would probably be long gone before it caught fire. (not a pleasant thought though).

With that in mind though, my brother-in-law was a fire fighter and at his passing out parade, they demonstrated a 'magnesium fire' using a 2KG bundle of magnesium ribbon, ignited whilst wapped in newspaper. The resulting heat given off when they hit it with a water hose could be felt by those viewing some 30 meters away!!

02-27-07, 03:25 PM	#3 (permalink)
Paul Thompson 'Hooligan' p thompson Administrator Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Milland, West S GT40: None Posts: 2,109 Rep Power: 36	Re: magnesium in GT's interior; is this dangerous? Hi Lynn - I am certainly no expert, but I would have thought that any magnesium used would be in a thickish section/casting and as such would require a lot of heat before it achieved a sustainable ignition. The magnesium ribbon we used to ignite at school was only about 0.25" wide and a few thou thick. With the heat required to ignite it, an occupant would probably be long gone before it caught fire. (not a pleasant thought though). With that in mind though, my brother-in-law was a fire fighter and at his passing out parade, they demonstrated a 'magnesium fire' using a 2KG bundle of magnesium ribbon, ignited whilst wapped in newspaper. The resulting heat given off when they hit it with a water hose could be felt by those viewing some 30 meters away!! see also - Magnesium Fire __________________ regards Paul Thompson ----------------------------------------- Too Many Hobbies - Too Little Time