# magnesium light



## pwell (Mar 30, 2001)

Ok, this may be a little on the far fetched side. I've often wondered if there is such a thing as a magesium flare type light.

The light would come from something like a burning piece of magnesium or a flare and would have some kind of reflector. I understand that a lot of heat and smoke is given off by burning magnseium. But I've seen how bright this stuff is when burnt (with peripheral vision at least) and it really turns night into day.

The reflector could maybe be machined from aluminium and the lamp (magnesium) holder could be made of ceramic. Maybe a smoke removin fan could be used too.

My intended use of this is only for the novelty value and I expect only short usage times like 30 seconds or so. In particular, I'm into amateur rocketry and have played with the idea of lofting a mini sun up into the sky at night (1 - 2 km). It would have to be done where there is no fire hazard of course. It could be mounted at the top or the side of the rocket. Certainly would illuminate clouds. 

If it were possible to focus such a light it would shine for miles.

What do you think?

pwell


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## lightlover (Mar 30, 2001)

Ah, the Joy of Magnesium. 

As a kid




, I acquired a 1/2 kg bag of assorted bits. It certainly lit up a workshop, while producing vast amounts of dense white smoke. We breathed in a lot of it.





Can't quite remember the relative effects, but Calcium burns really bright too. 
Isn't there *a something* which advances the source as it burns down, which would aid focusing.

Maybe a yachting / military supplies shop would sell flares ?

Best wishes, but don't inhale ( while testing it out ! ) 

Lite-Lover


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## Brock (Mar 30, 2001)

I was going to mention Marine stores. I used to work for a sailboat company and we had all kinds of extremely bright flares. None of them had any type of reflector, but they were amazingly bright. The even make some that come in a 25mm shotgun shell and go to about 1000' and pop a chute then burn for about a min or so. We regularly used them on the forth of July since they were dated we need new ones on the boats every other year. Anyway they were very cool, lit up the whole area.

Brock


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## DavidW (Mar 30, 2001)

Here's how to get 4 feet of magnesium.


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## The_LED_Museum (Mar 31, 2001)

My handiest source of this class-D metal is as close as your camping goods store.
Magnesium fire starters. The ones I used to get were rectangular blocks about 3" long by 2" wide by 1" thick, and had a flint embedded along one edge. You were supposed to use your pocketknife to file a small quantity of shavings off into a small pile in your tinder, then spark off the things using your knife and the flint on the other edge.

If you clamped one of these things in a vise or something, you could file or rasp off a large quantity of the shavings in fairly short order.

They were relatively cheap, and nobody asked questions.


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## pwell (Apr 1, 2001)

Thank you everyone for your informative comments. I had no idea magnesium was used in hot water heaters.

In order to keep the burning end of the magnesium at the right point for focusing I'd use a manual feeder for starters. If the magnesium was in a strip, it could be fed through a small slot in the lamp holder. I've got some graphite which could be used the make the lamp holder. Would be easier than making a ceramic one.

Since the isotropic radiation of burning magnesium is so high it must be awesome when focused.

A megnesium strip burns for longer than I thought. Perhaps this could be used to make an ultra light emergency spotlight. It would still need batteries for the smoke removing fan.

I'll start sniffing around for magnesium soon.





pwell


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## **DONOTDELETE** (Apr 1, 2001)

Hi guys!

Let me share a recipe from my wild days as a young boy with you



:

Mix Magnesium powder (as fine as it could be) with Potassiumpermanganate ( KMno4, also powdered) in equal weights caredully together. You now have a really impressive flashing powder (this is what antique photographers used as a photo flash!). But be a little careful, if you ignite it in a closed box or something, this will explode heavily (never do something, ahemm...).

A good source for fine Magnesium powder is Merck, a laboratory supplier, where you can buy this for synthesis purpose (500g at about 18$). Potassiumpermanganate is aavailable also via Merck or at your local drug store as a desinfection agent (its the little violet crystals which make damn bad stains on everything, one neat little crystal can colour gallons of water...)

If you are interested in recipes for bengalian lights (red, green, yellow, violet or blue), I can also provide you with some recipes... just ask for it

Bye,

[email protected]


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## lightlover (Apr 1, 2001)

Hi, Phantomas2002, I've never heard of bengalian lights, but they sound very interesting.

Anyone know the stats and characteristics of Magnesium lights, and er, well, once started, how do you best stop a 0.5in diameter rod burning ?
( My Magnesium guy has promised to supply. Thanks for the tip, DavidW )

Playing as kids, we used fixed length strip and coil mostly. Burned inside a closed derelict garage, it shone beams out through the spaces in the walls like in a science fiction movie !!

Lite-Lover





( Edit - does anyone know what magnesium smoke consists of, and is it injurious or toxic ? )


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## Badbeams3 (Apr 4, 2001)

Around 1980 or so I was sitting in my living room when the back yard lit up. Going outside the clouds were all lit up. Lasted for 3-5 minutes...very, very bright. Seemed like all of Tampa was lit up. You could not see the source as it was above the clouds. People were coming out of their homes and looking...some kids were saying we were under attack...probably beings from another world. Anyway the next day it was reported to be a magnisium flare. I cannot imagine how bright and wierd it would look with a reflector. Be carfull you don`t do another "war of the worlds radio show" thing and panic everyone.


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## lightlover (Apr 7, 2001)

These guys also do a * Megabeam IR 6 Illuminator * listed on site under * Night Vision *, which I think looks just like a Maxa Beam.

But, look under the * Personal Protection * heading for the * Security Blanket AL-22 *. at
http://www.spyzone.com/catalog/index.html 

Claims to have * a beam that's 110,000 lumens strong *

Spoke to a sales rep. Brief notes –

This device is sold as a * legal self defence weapon * ( No officer, I only shone a light on the . . . * - to discourage window *peekers*, and . . . * )

It uses a bulb of domestic shape and size, like a British style pear shaped 150w, ~80mm ( ~3.12 in ) head diameter. Magnesium wool and / or powder is used for the one-time only discharge, ignited by a 9 volt battery. Uses a plain sliding switch. No info available on light duration. Looking into the head ( apprehensive, made sure it was definitely switched off ) there was nothing that looked like a reflector or attempt to shape the light, it is just a plastic cylinder lined with a card-thin layer of what looked like pale grey paper, perhaps mica or an insulator.

In the used example I saw, the bulb glass was deeply-smoky, light-greyed and had at least partly bubbled a 25mm ( 1 in ) diameter area on one side, also, what looked like internal crazing and / or melt lines. It seemed to be still sealed, and the rep. waved it around without worrying that the bulb might fall to bits. No marks on the inside of the enclosure. It was a display version, so maybe was cleaned up.

The device was seemed very light / bulky, even for it's size, ( Velcro, you probably know what I mean ! ) and was made in a flimsy, thin walled plasticky plastic. Apparently, UK price is ~£250, and spare bulbs are ~£10, ( So $375, $15 rough equivalent ) 

Looks like the idea is on the market, pwell, * The first of its kind, the AL-22 . . . *, but it isn't particularly well executed, and the price itself is enough to knock you over senseless.
It's gotta be able to be done better !

I have a chance to perhaps find out a little more about 10 days time. If anyone wants to know anything about this, let me know what to ask and look out for, but the rep may not have much more info.

I'm thinking of ordering a bulb only, and finding some way to detonate it. 
Does anyone know how many lumens a lightning flash is ? How many lumens does our sun put out ! Should it be candlepower instead, being a round / point source thing ? I'll volunteer to look it up for us if no-one knows the answer. 

Lite-Lover


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## The_LED_Museum (Apr 9, 2001)

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Lite-Lover:
[QB( Edit - does anyone know what magnesium smoke consists of, and is it injurious or toxic ? )[/QB]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Best guess?
Probably predominantly magnesium oxide, but it could be a multiple oxide (dioxide, trioxide, pentoxide, etc.) as I don't know how many oxygen atoms would make up the molecule.
The smoke may also contain small amounts of nitrogen oxide, nitrogen dioxide, and carbon monoxide; created out of normal atmospheric gases superheated by the burning magnesium.

This smoke should be reasonably harmless and nonreactive, _provided you don't just sit there and inhale the stuff_ or mix it with any of the halogens or acids.
I would try to avoid it, but wouldn't be overly concerned if I got a small whiff.

Note: I'm no chemist, so anyone who is, please feel free to correct me.


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## **DONOTDELETE** (Apr 9, 2001)

I agree, there is only produced MgO, whih is harmless if you dont inhale it on a daily basis...




Also the concentration of nitrous gases should be harmless.

So dont be concerned about this aspect of burning magnesium, just keep aware you dont burn down the house.. 

bye,

phantomas2002


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