
Sand won't save you this time (2008) - nl
https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2008/02/26/sand_wont_save_you_this_time
======
glangdale
Possibly the best of the "Things I won't work with" series:
[https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/category/thin...](https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/category/things-
i-wont-work-with)

I particularly like the quote "It is also hypergolic with such things as
cloth, wood, and test engineers.." (hypergolic means it ignites spontaneously
upon mixing)

~~~
sq_
The book that quote is originally from, _Ignition!_ , is 100% worth a read.
Picked up a copy through Amazon a few months ago, and it’s one of the funniest
(in a nerdy way) and most interesting books I’ve read in a loooong time.

~~~
interfixus
The book seems hard and very pricey to come across. I know for a fact that
certain people have had better luck with Libgen.

~~~
iNerdier
It was recently republished as far as I know but yes, originals are hard to
come by.

~~~
stordoff
I was completely unaware this had been republished. I think it might be
finally time to get myself a copy. £13.69/$20.49 (paperback) is a completely
reasonable price compared to what I had seen before.

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dang
Discussed a bit in 2009:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=532278](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=532278)

and a tiny bit in 2013:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5656994](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5656994)

~~~
myself248
"Things I won't work with" is right up there with the SR-71 "ground speed
check" story, in my category of "things I can't believe everyone hasn't seen
yet because it's literally everywhere nerds go on the internet".

~~~
dang
Yes, lots here:
[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=things%20i%20won%27t%20work%20...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=things%20i%20won%27t%20work%20with%20comments%3E0&sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=story&storyText=false&prefix&page=0)

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User23
FOOF[1] is still my favorite in this series. Such a wonderfully onomatopoeic
chemical formula.

If you read the reference I shared you’ll see that some maniacs reacted
chlorine trifluoride with dioxygen difluoride.

High energy chemistry is nifty.

[1]
[https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2010/02/23/th...](https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2010/02/23/things_i_wont_work_with_dioxygen_difluoride)

~~~
Retric
I love the line: _At seven hundred freaking degrees, fluorine starts to
dissociate into monoatomic radicals, thereby losing its gentle and forgiving
nature._

Meanwhile, the wiki page on Florine looks more like that of a serial killer
than an element. "fluorine martyrs" indeed.

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fencepost
A current column (4 days old) about fun lab discoveries
[https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2019/07/10/bu...](https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2019/07/10/buried-
treasure-of-a-sort)

No FOOF that I saw listed though.

~~~
bufferoverflow
FOOF reference:

[https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2010/02/23/th...](https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2010/02/23/things_i_wont_work_with_dioxygen_difluoride)

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flyinghamster
Truly a classic... and the whole series is loads of fun.

Then there's this set of three articles in this series:

"Hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane": "I’d call for all the chemists who’ve ever
worked with a hexanitro compound to raise their hands, but that might be
assuming too much about the limb-to-chemist ratio."

"Peroxide Peroxides": "There are a lot of things, unfortunately, that can lead
to peroxide decomposition – all sorts of metal contaminants, light, spitting
at them (most likely), and it doesn’t take much."

And then, the punch line, where our hexanitro compound above gets some extra
oomph: "What This Here Compound Needs is Some Hydrogen Peroxide." "So I have
to congratulate these folks; they’ve managed to combine two of my Things I
Won’t Work With entries into the same flippin’ substance."

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Causality1
One of the substances featured on the excellent "5 Most Dangerous Chemicals"
episode of Sci-Show:
[https://youtu.be/ckSoDW2-wrc](https://youtu.be/ckSoDW2-wrc)

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PixyMisa
Saw the title, thought "that sounds like a post from In the Pipeline, I wonder
what happened to that blog".

Thanks!

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eveningcoffee
That must be the thing the dragons are made of.

