• Cort@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        50/50 Aluminum powder and rust that’s stable enough to resist igniting under a blow torch. What’s dangerous about making it?

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          Attaching it to some kind of ignition, most commonly.

          But even past that, you typically want a very fine concentrate and even distribution of aluminium and rust. Grinding that shit up and mixing it is nasty for your lungs, without quality equipment on hand.

          • Cort@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            I mean a cheap rock tumbler with steel balls for the grinding and standard magnesium sparklers for ignition does would do the trick, I imagine

            • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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              1 month ago

              In theory, lots of things work great. In practice…

              You generally want some kind of background and some proper equipment. I’ll concede that making thermite can easily go wrong in the opposite direction - cooking up a recipe that doesn’t ignite at all.

          • BrundleFly2077@sh.itjust.works
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            1 month ago

            The problem is that you’ll typically need something like a magnesium strip to set it off. Shit needs to meet with something burning like the surface of the sun before it kicks into chaos mode.

            • Zetta@mander.xyz
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              1 month ago

              Or just mix potassium permanganate and glycerine and it will ignite the thermite.

            • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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              1 month ago

              Detonators are difficult to build and transport. In a high risk activity, like domestic terrorism, the offender has a bias towards getting the thing to work and away from personal safety. This compounds the risk of accidents.

              And that’s before you get into the process of milling the combustion material. Which, again, not great for your long term health if you’re just trying to hack it in your garage or kitchen.

          • Zetta@mander.xyz
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            1 month ago

            I use to make, sell, and ship thermite online when I was 15. It’s easy for anyone to do

          • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            You can buy premixed thermite online. Granted, you’ll show up suspicious when they start looking up sellers and their buyers.

            • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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              1 month ago

              Oh sure. You can buy tannerite explosives as part of a gender reveal kit, ffs. But, like with any kind of fireworks or similar explosive materials, there are risks to improper transportation and use.

              You can buy firecrackers from stales on the side of the road in some states. But people injure themselves with firecrackers all the time.

      • sploosh@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        It’s one of the easiest high-energy reactions to prepare, contains only very stable powdered iron and aluminum (though you can add other things as buffers to slow the reaction, such as boron or carbon) and it can only be kicked off by VERY intense heat, like from burning magnesium or the burning titanium powder in a sparkler. Thermite can be shipped through the mail with no special considerations. Were you thinking of something else?

      • shalafi@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Thought about trying it for kicks, but making the AL powder sounds painful without proper gear.

    • jonne
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      1 month ago

      They don’t actually know who it is, they’re just guessing at this point. Not sure what they hope to accomplish by sharing this information though. Are they hoping some welder is going to go ‘crazy Terry drives a Volvo’ and turn him in?

  • Media Bias Fact Checker@lemmy.worldB
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    1 month ago
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    MBFC: Left-Center - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: High - United States of America


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