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Plutonium is very pyrophoric, especially dust, powder, fines, shavings, etc. Plutonium metal likes to form a hydride layer that rapidly oxidizes in the presence of any water; this oxide then vigorously reacts with water. Plutonium fires have occurred at several national labs in the US, including two incidents that contaminated the Rocky Flats site. Forget demon cores and use as an elaborate poisoning agent, the stuff is a huge conventional safety hazard. Edit: my vote for actual most dangerous substance known to man, though, goes to chlorine trifluoride[1]. It will vigorously react with sand, bricks, asbestos, and other stuff that is usually reliably inert. [1] https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/sand-won-t-save-yo... |
I wonder if the Aliens movies got their idea for the blood from this stuff.
> There’s a report from the early 1950s (in this PDF) of a one-ton spill of the stuff. It burned its way through a foot of concrete floor and chewed up another meter of sand and gravel beneath, completing a day that I'm sure no one involved ever forgot. That process, I should add, would necessarily have been accompanied by copious amounts of horribly toxic and corrosive by-products: it’s bad enough when your reagent ignites wet sand, but the clouds of hot hydrofluoric acid are your special door prize if you’re foolhardy enough to hang around and watch the fireworks.