Across America today and this evening people will be burning stuff and blowing stuff up for fun. Whether it is a beach bonfire or a brace of blasting ballistic bombs in your back yard, Independence Day traditions are something that millions revel in each year. If you are planning on burning a couple of magnesium VW engine blocks allow us to give you one professional tip. Keep water away from them. Burning at several thousand degrees, they have that intense white glow that few other things produce. The danger level here is pretty damned high as well. This video demonstrates when a very small dose of water is added to the fire and the explosive results that come of it.
It would be one thing if the water just kind of splattered and fizzled but instead what happens is a massive shower of molten metal that gets exponentially larger and crazier depending on the volume of water applied to the fire. Having never burned these blocks ourselves we have no idea how long that they go for but we’re guessing that it’s the better part of a night before the magnesium is consumed and the things cool off.
Are there even enough of these things around to continue this fun? Seems wasteful now that the last air-cooled VW was built decades ago. That being said they made like 340.42 bajillion of them so we could probably burn blocks until the end of time and have ample spares.
Either way, be careful out there today and tonight kids!
