Amateur Scientist Builds Thermite Grenade Cannon (gizmodo.com)

YouTube personality Colin Furze has built a homemade cannon which he's filmed launching grenades filled with thermite, "an especially nasty chemical composition made of metal power and oxide that burns as hot as 2,500 degrees Celsius." Furze once co-hosted Sky1's program Gadget Geeks, and he's since made a new career demonstrating strange science projects on YouTube. Furze's other homemade devices have included a rocket-powered go-kart and a knife that can also toast bread while it's cutting.

Comments

Re:hi

[Sechr Nibw]

Thanks for playing, but he's British, not American. Try changing your TLA.

Colin Furze! My favorite crazy scientist

[Eloking]

Actually, he's more an engineer but anyway, not my favorite video of him.

I'm was more impressed when he hydroformed a pulse jet

Re:hi

[ShanghaiBill]

1. Thermite is perfectly legal to own. It is not regulated by the ATF whatsoever.

We made it in high school chemistry class. Here is the recipe:

1. Powdered aluminum
2. Powdered rust
3. Mix
4. Ignite
The stuff does not explode. It just burns, and produces molten iron. We did it on a 1/2" steel plate out behind the school, and it burned through the steel.

Notes:
1. Our chemistry teacher was really cool
2. Always wear eye protection when doing stuff like this.

Re:hi

[Deadstick]

Just curious, where does that second 'i' come from in enunciating Aluminum

From its discoverer. He called it alumium, aluminum and aluminium in that historical order, and the different versions basically spread by diffusion.

OTOH, "solder" has only one spelling, but two pronunciations: in Britain they pronounce the L.

Orkin Man

[PopeRatzo]

I don't see why you'd need a grenade cannon just to get rid of termites. Seems like overkill.