The Ambri battery

[Old Rocks]

This could well be the transformational system for alternative power. And there are many other industrial uses for this, also.

Ambri?s Better Grid Battery | MIT Technology Review

 

[Mad Scientist]

Old Rocks continues to fall for the same old scam over and over. It goes like this:
"We're on the verge of a tremendous breakthrough in (insert whatever technology here). We're tantalizingly close to it but to continue our research we need more money".

It's like those Televangelists you see on TV who are always short of cash. Maybe we can call them "Techno-Vangelists"?

Anyway if that doesn't get you revved up they throw the Patriotic American Angle at you:

"China, Germany and Turdistan are also working on this but we don't want to see our lead in this area dissolve. Do you want America to fall behind?"

If the technology works and the Scientists can prove it they're gonna get the money, believe me.

 

[slackjawed]

I got a bunch of popups and a warning about spyware when I clicked the link in the OP.

Never got to read about the lastest new technology that will save the planet.

 

[Old Rocks]

Then you have a problem within your computer. That is an MIT site, and there are no popups on it.

 

[KissMy]

These batteries cost 5 times more than hydro-electric dam storage. They are only about 70% efficient. They have not been extensively tested yet to prove their low degradation claims. It will take energy to maintain operating temp. Apparently they can cycle fast to complement renewable energy fluctuations which is a large plus over hydro-electric storage. They can also be installed anywhere, unlike a hydro reservoir. They have been under development since 2006.

Ambri- At present, however, the firm has only produced test batteries that have completed a mere 30 charge cycles successfully and with an efficiency of merely "up to 69 percent" (standard lead batteries are closer to 90 percent), and the researchers have no industry experience. The question is therefore whether the technology is actually scalable at low cost, and the start-up is currently looking for industrial investors to help it move from the lab to the production line. And the ultimate question is whether the costs will actually be lower than the various battery technologies we already have.

In a scientific paper (PDF), Sadoway's team explain that the batteries will run at very high temperatures (700 degrees Celsius). Obviously, a lot of energy will be needed to reach such temperatures in the first place, but the MIT researchers believe that temperatures can be maintained easily once they have been reached. The high temperatures are expected to make the batteries relatively inexpensive to manufacture, and the researchers speak of "unprecedented lifespans."

LMBC - “The liquid electrodes avoid cycle-to-cycle capacity fade because they reconstitute with each charge,” he says. Prototypes have operated in a lab environment for more than 17 months with daily cycling and no reduction in performance. A molten-salt electrolyte separates the electrodes and combines high conductivity with a tolerance for abuse.

The liquid components segregate themselves due to three immiscible liquid phases of different densities (like oil and water) allowing for reliable operation and manufacturing ease. These attributes let the liquid metal battery exceed 70% round-trip ac efficiency for over a decade and without degradation. Management and control electronics are configured to allow remote operation and monitoring of the battery without on-site personnel.

Giudice says the battery responds with its entire nameplate capacity in milliseconds and can store up to 12 hours of energy and discharge it slowly over time. “The technology has been under development for more than six years,”

 

[KissMy]

The Ambri battery has the advantage of rapid charge cycling, but Isentropic Energy’s pumped-heat electrical energy storage has a 10 fold cost advantage.

Isentropic Energy’s pumped-heat electrical energy storage could disrupt the large-scale electrical energy storage market.

"Howes is claiming large-scale storage costs that are an order of magnitude lower than Lithium-ion batteries or other stored energy technologies -- $55 per kilowatt-hour currently, with a path to get down to $8 per kilowatt-hour. Isentropic's technology is compact, has no geographical constraints and claims a round-trip efficiency of 72 to 80 percent."

 

[Old Rocks]

Thank you. I like it. Extremely simple. Ambri's battery has some advantages over this, but the cost factor, and level of technology makes Isentropic's battery a winner in many applications.

 

[whitehall]

Is the experimental battery system (100 lb cells strung together as big as a storage container) an admission that the current solar/wind technology ain't worth a shit?

 

[polarbear]

This could well be the transformational system for alternative power. And there are many other industrial uses for this, also.

Ambri?s Better Grid Battery | MIT Technology Review

And a good evening to You from Manitoba.
Interesting article, but there are a few things you might want to research yourself concerning some disturbing details that this article did not mention.
I`ll start with the "lesser" hazard first. My (Chem. eng.) eyes bugged out when I got to the last few lines about the molten metals that the anodes and cathodes consist of.
Molten Magnesium...!!!...on an industrial scale as a power grid storage battery component...!!!
If that comes in contact with moisture or air that will result in an explosion that will make Chernobyl look like a firecracker by comparison.
And the temperatures....!! Magnesium is the "secret ingredient" in military grade thermite to boost the temperature and as a reaction accelerator..it`s not published by Wikipedia, just take my word for it.
Maybe if you can get a hold of an old fashioned photo-flash bulb, (they use Mg wire)... and set it off you get the idea...

But more serious is the Antimony, molten and in a highly reactive state.
Antimony reacts with Hydrogen to "Stibine"...SbH3 an extremely toxic gas which has been feasibility studied as a chemical weapon.

I`l rather live right next door to a Russian nuclear power plant that includes daily Vodka rations in employee bonuses than in the same county which is crazy enough to set up an "Ambri`s better Battery" grid power system.

 

[Old Rocks]

This could well be the transformational system for alternative power. And there are many other industrial uses for this, also.

Ambri?s Better Grid Battery | MIT Technology Review

And a good evening to You from Manitoba.
Interesting article, but there are a few things you might want to research yourself concerning some disturbing details that this article did not mention.
I`ll start with the "lesser" hazard first. My (Chem. eng.) eyes bugged out when I got to the last few lines about the molten metals that the anodes and cathodes consist of.
Molten Magnesium...!!!...on an industrial scale as a power grid storage battery component...!!!
If that comes in contact with moisture or air that will result in an explosion that will make Chernobyl look like a firecracker by comparison.
And the temperatures....!! Magnesium is the "secret ingredient" in military grade thermite to boost the temperature and as a reaction accelerator..it`s not published by Wikipedia, just take my word for it.
Maybe if you can get a hold of an old fashioned photo-flash bulb, (they use Mg wire)... and set it off you get the idea...

But more serious is the Antimony, molten and in a highly reactive state.
Antimony reacts with Hydrogen to "Stibine"...SbH3 an extremely toxic gas which has been feasibility studied as a chemical weapon.

I`l rather live right next door to a Russian nuclear power plant than in the same county which is crazy enough to set up an "Ambri`s better Battery" grid power system.

Reasonable objections and valid points. However, what I like is that they are thinking out of the box on the way to build a battery. And we use many things like this that are dangerous if they are mishandled. Does bring up what happens on a direct lightning strike.

 

[KissMy]

This could well be the transformational system for alternative power. And there are many other industrial uses for this, also.

Ambri?s Better Grid Battery | MIT Technology Review

And a good evening to You from Manitoba.
Interesting article, but there are a few things you might want to research yourself concerning some disturbing details that this article did not mention.
I`ll start with the "lesser" hazard first. My (Chem. eng.) eyes bugged out when I got to the last few lines about the molten metals that the anodes and cathodes consist of.
Molten Magnesium...!!!...on an industrial scale as a power grid storage battery component...!!!
If that comes in contact with moisture or air that will result in an explosion that will make Chernobyl look like a firecracker by comparison.
And the temperatures....!! Magnesium is the "secret ingredient" in military grade thermite to boost the temperature and as a reaction accelerator..it`s not published by Wikipedia, just take my word for it.
Maybe if you can get a hold of an old fashioned photo-flash bulb, (they use Mg wire)... and set it off you get the idea...

But more serious is the Antimony, molten and in a highly reactive state.
Antimony reacts with Hydrogen to "Stibine"...SbH3 an extremely toxic gas which has been feasibility studied as a chemical weapon.

I`l rather live right next door to a Russian nuclear power plant that includes daily Vodka rations in employee bonuses than in the same county which is crazy enough to set up an "Ambri`s better Battery" grid power system.

You have to have an oxidizer to have an explosion or burn. Oxygen is required for magnesium to have an exothermic reaction. A magnesium pipe with pure oxygen blowing through it makes a good cutting torch.

 

[polarbear]

This could well be the transformational system for alternative power. And there are many other industrial uses for this, also.

Ambri?s Better Grid Battery | MIT Technology Review

And a good evening to You from Manitoba.
Interesting article, but there are a few things you might want to research yourself concerning some disturbing details that this article did not mention.
I`ll start with the "lesser" hazard first. My (Chem. eng.) eyes bugged out when I got to the last few lines about the molten metals that the anodes and cathodes consist of.
Molten Magnesium...!!!...on an industrial scale as a power grid storage battery component...!!!
If that comes in contact with moisture or air that will result in an explosion that will make Chernobyl look like a firecracker by comparison.
And the temperatures....!! Magnesium is the "secret ingredient" in military grade thermite to boost the temperature and as a reaction accelerator..it`s not published by Wikipedia, just take my word for it.
Maybe if you can get a hold of an old fashioned photo-flash bulb, (they use Mg wire)... and set it off you get the idea...

But more serious is the Antimony, molten and in a highly reactive state.
Antimony reacts with Hydrogen to "Stibine"...SbH3 an extremely toxic gas which has been feasibility studied as a chemical weapon.

I`l rather live right next door to a Russian nuclear power plant than in the same county which is crazy enough to set up an "Ambri`s better Battery" grid power system.

Reasonable objections and valid points. However, what I like is that they are thinking out of the box on the way to build a battery. And we use many things like this that are dangerous if they are mishandled. Does bring up what happens on a direct lightning strike.

That`s why I do in fact like a lot of the stuff that you post...because I did a lot of R&D. R&D is "thinking outside the box" ,...but after the lab experiment comes the pilot plant experiment before engineers go full scale industrial. At that stage the safety regulations become a significant part if not the dominant design factor. You are a fully qualified Millwright and you know what I`m talking about now..!!!
Imagine what it would take to build a fail-safe setup for huge volumes of molten Mg & Sb.
Just noticed a wise crack post from somebody else "you need an oxidizer....etc"
As if I did not know that..what he does not seem to realize is that it`s not that easy to design an AIRTIGHT vessel of the dimensions this application requires to avoid a "spectacular chemical reaction" if any air gets to the molten Mg.
It`s a problem because you have to heat the contents above the melting point and at some time cool it off again and stay absolutely air tight over the entire temperature range.
If it was that easy to do, then the Skunk works would not have put XR-`s on the tarmac that leaked fuel at room temperature so that they don`t buckle at a higher temperature.
Besides that...let`s remember how the public freaked out when a distant earthquake triggered a Tsunami which in turn trashed a nuclear power plant.
As if the EPA and Worker`s insurance companies would let a few "outside the box" inventors put up an industrial facility using huge quantities of molten Mg & Antimony unless even the slightest chance of a leak or any other mishap has a < 1 : 10 000 0000 Chance.

You have to have an oxidizer to have an explosion or burn. Oxygen is required for magnesium to have an exothermic reaction.A magnesium pipe with pure oxygen blowing through it makes a good cutting torch.

We got "know it better" armchair experts all over this forum, no matter what the subject...quick to contradict for the sake of it without thinking it through first.
So how many milliseconds does that Magnesium pipe "cutting torch" last when you blow PURE OXYGEN through it...?
Ever noticed how "long" a Mg wire flash bulb burns?...and that`s just air, not PURE Oxygen..!!!
You and your "cutting torch" would be vaporized the instant you turn on the oxygen unless you wear an asbestos suit and hide in a trench while you watch another idiot holding your "torch"

By the way,...I`m still a little pissed off that the general public was not informed why previous batteries that contained Antimony have been very quietly phased out. Imagine the class action suits that would have been unleashed on the industry had the consumer any knowledge that these batteries,...many of them were in children`s toys leaked out Stibine gas.
If You can`t find any info on the Internet I`ll gladly scan in what it says about Stibine in my Merck Index....just say the word and wait till I re-connect my scanner which is presently in a box while I`m re-painting my study room.

 

[polarbear]

Reasonable objections and valid points. However, what I like is that they are thinking out of the box on the way to build a battery. And we use many things like this that are dangerous if they are mishandled. Does bring up what happens on a direct lightning strike.

I just finished reading my newspapers and found an article for You:
Better Place: Schneller Akkutausch in fünf Minuten - SPIEGEL ONLINE

Instead of translating the whole thing I`ll just go to the "gusto".
But please do watch the video it is well worth your while.
Below the video the detail that grabbed my attention is that this quick battery change process is a contract, which costs you 200 Euros per month and limits you to 10 000 km per year...
That comes out to 24 Euro cents per km...or 47 (U.S.) cents PER MILE...!!
Nevertheless, I like the "outside the box" idea, having a robot change your battery inside 5 minutes in this drive through battery exchange.,...the software recognizes the make & model, moves the car, zip out comes the depleted battery, zap in goes a freshly charged one...Cool idea, but way over budget for most consumers don`t you think ?

Your comment:

And we use many things like this that are dangerous if they are mishandled.

I`m 100 % with you on that one and regard Strontium batteries as one of these things.
If it were not for human stupidity or the strange urges some have to harm others in order to make the news then all the short-comings e-cars have would be solved right now.
Almost every remote sensing/ relay station we use on Ellesmere & Northern Greenland uses Strontium batteries (during the winter darkness, solar during summer)....it`s workable because these areas are off limits to the general public.

These damn things are worry free for decades and none of us who serviced them ever came back with a black-photo paper tag.
But then again we can`t even be sure what some people might do with a gun, never mind a nuclear device.

 

[Old Rocks]

This could well be the transformational system for alternative power. And there are many other industrial uses for this, also.

Ambri?s Better Grid Battery | MIT Technology Review

And a good evening to You from Manitoba.
Interesting article, but there are a few things you might want to research yourself concerning some disturbing details that this article did not mention.
I`ll start with the "lesser" hazard first. My (Chem. eng.) eyes bugged out when I got to the last few lines about the molten metals that the anodes and cathodes consist of.
Molten Magnesium...!!!...on an industrial scale as a power grid storage battery component...!!!
If that comes in contact with moisture or air that will result in an explosion that will make Chernobyl look like a firecracker by comparison.
And the temperatures....!! Magnesium is the "secret ingredient" in military grade thermite to boost the temperature and as a reaction accelerator..it`s not published by Wikipedia, just take my word for it.
Maybe if you can get a hold of an old fashioned photo-flash bulb, (they use Mg wire)... and set it off you get the idea...

But more serious is the Antimony, molten and in a highly reactive state.
Antimony reacts with Hydrogen to "Stibine"...SbH3 an extremely toxic gas which has been feasibility studied as a chemical weapon.

I`l rather live right next door to a Russian nuclear power plant that includes daily Vodka rations in employee bonuses than in the same county which is crazy enough to set up an "Ambri`s better Battery" grid power system.

You have to have an oxidizer to have an explosion or burn. Oxygen is required for magnesium to have an exothermic reaction. A magnesium pipe with pure oxygen blowing through it makes a good cutting torch.

Not would, it is 'does'.

 

[KissMy]

You have to have an oxidizer to have an explosion or burn. Oxygen is required for magnesium to have an exothermic reaction.A magnesium pipe with pure oxygen blowing through it makes a good cutting torch.

We got "know it better" armchair experts all over this forum, no matter what the subject...quick to contradict for the sake of it without thinking it through first.
So how many milliseconds does that Magnesium pipe "cutting torch" last when you blow PURE OXYGEN through it...?
Ever noticed how "long" a Mg wire flash bulb burns?...and that`s just air, not PURE Oxygen..!!!
You and your "cutting torch" would be vaporized the instant you turn on the oxygen unless you wear an asbestos suit and hide in a trench while you watch another idiot holding your "torch".

Magnesium Needs Oxygen To Burn

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCzby3A_Y7Y"]Magnesium Needs Oxygen To Burn[/ame]

You can make a Thermic Lance with magnesium pipe & oxygen.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV4r7OKkXmU"]Thermic Lance[/ame]

 

[polarbear]

You have to have an oxidizer to have an explosion or burn. Oxygen is required for magnesium to have an exothermic reaction.A magnesium pipe with pure oxygen blowing through it makes a good cutting torch.

We got "know it better" armchair experts all over this forum, no matter what the subject...quick to contradict for the sake of it without thinking it through first.
So how many milliseconds does that Magnesium pipe "cutting torch" last when you blow PURE OXYGEN through it...?
Ever noticed how "long" a Mg wire flash bulb burns?...and that`s just air, not PURE Oxygen..!!!
You and your "cutting torch" would be vaporized the instant you turn on the oxygen unless you wear an asbestos suit and hide in a trench while you watch another idiot holding your "torch".

Magnesium Needs Oxygen To Burn

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCzby3A_Y7Y"]Magnesium Needs Oxygen To Burn[/ame]

You can make a Thermic Lance with magnesium pipe & oxygen.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV4r7OKkXmU"]Thermic Lance[/ame]

Let me get this straight...You, the armchair "scientist" is lecturing a chemical & military engineer that Magnesium needs Oxygen to burn after I posted what the hazards are if you have molten Magnesium on a tonnage scale.
What makes You think I need you to tell me "that Magnesium needs Oxygen to burn". Why don`t You tell me instead how You would design a full scale molten Magnesium/Antimony storage battery that can store a 6 hour wind farm output and how this design would with 100% certainty ensure that no Oxygen ever comes in contact with the molten Magnesium.
You have absolutely no idea what`s involved to design a system like that.
I had my lab right next to a pilot plant sized autoclave. The autoclave was housed in a building where the control systems & instruments were behind a 3 meter thick re-enforced concrete wall and the opposite end is a thin "blow-out" brick wall that leads into a funnel shaped trench.
Scheduled was a simple catalytic hydrogenation at 600 psi. When the instrumentation showed that all the air had been replaced with Nitrogen the operator started opening the Hydrogen valves. We knew from the remnants of what was left of the autoclave recorders that he was`nt even past 5 psig Hydrogen when both ends of the building blew out and leveled the lab I was in just minutes before the explosion. I was in the cafeteria 3 rows of buildings away and almost all of us hat cuts when the windows burst. The accident was caused by a faulty Oxygen sensor.
But of course that huge explosion would have not happened if you would have been in charge ,...right...?
By the way, I don`t need you to tell me how hot Magnesium gets.
That pipe in that video is not a Magnesium pipe. Matter of fact there was no Magnesium in sight at all !
This type of lance is a mild steel pipe and these lances work like this.
At first you blow hydrogen through it and point it at a piece of scrap steel.
Once You got the steel hot enough you turn pull back the Oxygen trigger which cuts off the Hydrogen at the same time. What You don`t see was the hydrogen flame at the start-up because an air/hydrogen flame is almost invisible to the human eye. When he pulls the oxygen trigger the oxygen ignites the scrap steel and the purpose of that step is to get the scrap steel which was ignited to heat the tip of the steel pipe he is holding to get as hot as the scrap he ignited when he blew Oxygen at it.
To do that you have to move the tip close enough to the steel.
If you did it right the tip of the steel pipe you hold ignites and slowly starts burning towards you...heating up the oxygen jet that exits through the burning tip. Had you ever seen Magnesium burn or if you had any clue whatsoever about Chemistry you would have seen at the first glance that these "sparklies" are Iron sparks...Burning Magnesium generates an intense white light that would have blinded out almost everything else in that video
When Magnesium burns it also generates a very thick white smoke (Magnesium Oxyde)...matter of fact there are (white) smoke grenades that
use nothing but Magnesium pellets and an Oxidant like KNO3 or Permanganate. There are also so called "stun grenades" that exploit the intensely bright light followed by the thick white smoke when Magnesium ignites. They are used when an assault team has to storm a hijacked airliner sitting on the tarmac or a building and when they don`t know the exact location of their targets...In goes the Mg-stun grenade...the flash blinds every body for the next 5 minutes and nobody is able to aim a weapon with any degree of accuracy except the assault team.
I have seen stun grenades in action..., because I was also trained as a Sapper...so don`t try and pull my leg with that Youtube video and tell me that`s a Magnesium burn
A "Magnesium pipe" would be consumed from end to end in milliseconds if you blow Oxygen through it.
And you have also absolutely no idea how much faster combustibles burn in a pure Oxygen environment..
You might get the Idea if You can "wiki" what a Parr calorimeter bomb is. It`s used to determine the thermal energy of substances that can be oxidized.
For example how many Calories is in food stuffs. The sample goes into a small crucible along with a know amount of starter cotton into the Parr bomb.
On the massive lid of the Parr bomb is an ignition wire that gets pushed into the cotton. The Parr bomb & contents go into a temp. calibrated water bath and the sample is ignited. Even substances that would take minutes to burn up in air go "pooof" in pure Oxygen.
How fast do You think a Magnesium pipe would last if you ignite it and then blast Oxygen through it...
Here is a joke Chem students used to pull on each other. Dip a cigarette in liquid Oxygen...but be careful for how long..
Then let some poor fool light up the cigarette which is now loaded with peroxides...It either goes "pooof" or explodes if you dipped it too long.
Hey we`ve got a Millwright (OldRocks) in this forum...why don`t you ask him what happens if you oil the threads of an Oxygen Cylinder...

 

[Ernie S.]

Then you have a problem within your computer. That is an MIT site, and there are no popups on it.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of information available, like cost per module, when we will see them on the market etc. An efficient, reasonably priced battery that is safe to dispose of is needed. Is this it? We STILL have no idea and any amount of wishful thinking on your part, won't make THIS battery the holy grail.

 

[polarbear]

Then you have a problem within your computer. That is an MIT site, and there are no popups on it.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of information available, like cost per module, when we will see them on the market etc. An efficient, reasonably priced battery that is safe to dispose of is needed. Is this it? We STILL have no idea and any amount of wishful thinking on your part, won't make THIS battery the holy grail.

You can do a cost study only after you have a design for a full scale molten Mg/Sb electrode Battery...and how do you design one,airtight and zero containment fatigue after X temperature (expansion) cycles, so that it gets by our industrial safety standards when using a highly combustible metal like (molten!) Magnesium on a tonnage scale. The cost of the Magnesium and the Antimony is peanuts...the cost of a fail safe system with these materials at that temperature and in these quantities is...well let`s say you could probably build 2 nuclear power plants for way less money.
It`s a long way to Tipperari ...but it`s a much longer way from the lab bench to the full scale industrial item.

 

[Old Rocks]

We got "know it better" armchair experts all over this forum, no matter what the subject...quick to contradict for the sake of it without thinking it through first.
So how many milliseconds does that Magnesium pipe "cutting torch" last when you blow PURE OXYGEN through it...?
Ever noticed how "long" a Mg wire flash bulb burns?...and that`s just air, not PURE Oxygen..!!!
You and your "cutting torch" would be vaporized the instant you turn on the oxygen unless you wear an asbestos suit and hide in a trench while you watch another idiot holding your "torch".

Magnesium Needs Oxygen To Burn

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCzby3A_Y7Y"]Magnesium Needs Oxygen To Burn[/ame]

You can make a Thermic Lance with magnesium pipe & oxygen.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV4r7OKkXmU"]Thermic Lance[/ame]

Let me get this straight...You, the armchair "scientist" is lecturing a chemical & military engineer that Magnesium needs Oxygen to burn after I posted what the hazards are if you have molten Magnesium on a tonnage scale.
What makes You think I need you to tell me "that Magnesium needs Oxygen to burn". Why don`t You tell me instead how You would design a full scale molten Magnesium/Antimony storage battery that can store a 6 hour wind farm output and how this design would with 100% certainty ensure that no Oxygen ever comes in contact with the molten Magnesium.
You have absolutely no idea what`s involved to design a system like that.
I had my lab right next to a pilot plant sized autoclave. The autoclave was housed in a building where the control systems & instruments were behind a 3 meter thick re-enforced concrete wall and the opposite end is a thin "blow-out" brick wall that leads into a funnel shaped trench.
Scheduled was a simple catalytic hydrogenation at 600 psi. When the instrumentation showed that all the air had been replaced with Nitrogen the operator started opening the Hydrogen valves. We knew from the remnants of what was left of the autoclave recorders that he was`nt even past 5 psig Hydrogen when both ends of the building blew out and leveled the lab I was in just minutes before the explosion. I was in the cafeteria 3 rows of buildings away and almost all of us hat cuts when the windows burst. The accident was caused by a faulty Oxygen sensor.
But of course that huge explosion would have not happened if you would have been in charge ,...right...?
By the way, I don`t need you to tell me how hot Magnesium gets.
That pipe in that video is not a Magnesium pipe. Matter of fact there was no Magnesium in sight at all !
This type of lance is a mild steel pipe and these lances work like this.
At first you blow hydrogen through it and point it at a piece of scrap steel.
Once You got the steel hot enough you turn pull back the Oxygen trigger which cuts off the Hydrogen at the same time. What You don`t see was the hydrogen flame at the start-up because an air/hydrogen flame is almost invisible to the human eye. When he pulls the oxygen trigger the oxygen ignites the scrap steel and the purpose of that step is to get the scrap steel which was ignited to heat the tip of the steel pipe he is holding to get as hot as the scrap he ignited when he blew Oxygen at it.
To do that you have to move the tip close enough to the steel.
If you did it right the tip of the steel pipe you hold ignites and slowly starts burning towards you...heating up the oxygen jet that exits through the burning tip. Had you ever seen Magnesium burn or if you had any clue whatsoever about Chemistry you would have seen at the first glance that these "sparklies" are Iron sparks...Burning Magnesium generates an intense white light that would have blinded out almost everything else in that video
When Magnesium burns it also generates a very thick white smoke (Magnesium Oxyde)...matter of fact there are (white) smoke grenades that
use nothing but Magnesium pellets and an Oxidant like KNO3 or Permanganate. There are also so called "stun grenades" that exploit the intensely bright light followed by the thick white smoke when Magnesium ignites. They are used when an assault team has to storm a hijacked airliner sitting on the tarmac or a building and when they don`t know the exact location of their targets...In goes the Mg-stun grenade...the flash blinds every body for the next 5 minutes and nobody is able to aim a weapon with any degree of accuracy except the assault team.
I have seen stun grenades in action..., because I was also trained as a Sapper...so don`t try and pull my leg with that Youtube video and tell me that`s a Magnesium burn
A "Magnesium pipe" would be consumed from end to end in milliseconds if you blow Oxygen through it.
And you have also absolutely no idea how much faster combustibles burn in a pure Oxygen environment..
You might get the Idea if You can "wiki" what a Parr calorimeter bomb is. It`s used to determine the thermal energy of substances that can be oxidized.
For example how many Calories is in food stuffs. The sample goes into a small crucible along with a know amount of starter cotton into the Parr bomb.
On the massive lid of the Parr bomb is an ignition wire that gets pushed into the cotton. The Parr bomb & contents go into a temp. calibrated water bath and the sample is ignited. Even substances that would take minutes to burn up in air go "pooof" in pure Oxygen.
How fast do You think a Magnesium pipe would last if you ignite it and then blast Oxygen through it...
Here is a joke Chem students used to pull on each other. Dip a cigarette in liquid Oxygen...but be careful for how long..
Then let some poor fool light up the cigarette which is now loaded with peroxides...It either goes "pooof" or explodes if you dipped it too long.
Hey we`ve got a Millwright (OldRocks) in this forum...why don`t you ask him what happens if you oil the threads of an Oxygen Cylinder...

The standard cartoon above the oxygen tanks for those that don't know better is a fellow standing with an oil can in his hand, and a hole in his chest where the front of the regulator just passed through.

We had some oxygen lances that had some sort of magnesium in the end. And what looked like needles running about two thirds of the length. You hooked the oxygen up, no leaks in the valve allowed, stuck it in where you wanted to cut a wrecked plate out of the mill, and turned on the oxygen. Fireworks, cuts through a 1" plate like paper. Didn't have to light it, it lit when the pressurized oxygen hit the tip. We did not use these for anything but emergency situations.

 

[polarbear]

The standard cartoon above the oxygen tanks for those that don't know better is a fellow standing with an oil can in his hand, and a hole in his chest where the front of the regulator just passed through.

We had some oxygen lances that had some sort of magnesium in the end. And what looked like needles running about two thirds of the length. You hooked the oxygen up, no leaks in the valve allowed, stuck it in where you wanted to cut a wrecked plate out of the mill, and turned on the oxygen. Fireworks, cuts through a 1" plate like paper. Didn't have to light it, it lit when the pressurized oxygen hit the tip. We did not use these for anything but emergency situations.

Right,...!!! But that`s not the same kind of torch as in the video this guy posted. The torch you are talking about does indeed have Magnesium prongs at the tip...and is the quickest way to get the steel you want to cut hot enough so that it combusts when you start up the Oxygen. And yes they are used only in an emergency when time is of the essence and an Oxy-Acetylene cutting torch would take too long to get a thick steel plate past cherry-red to a yellow glow when the extra Oxygen from the center of the nozzle can ignite the steel and you can start cutting.
If you used that torch with the Mg igniters then you know how blinding white the light is when they start burning...and the white smoke I was talking about is the white Magnesium Oxide dust that hangs in the air for quite a while. You can`t miss the 2 signs of a Magnesium burn if you`ve done one. None of that is evident in that video where this guy figured they were holding a Magnesium Pipe...that was a Hydrogen/Oxygen lance.
I should get me one of these..."for emergency purposes". Just a few nights ago 3 guys pounded at my door in the middle of the night..My house and a neighbor`s house diagonally across the road were the only 2 houses with the lights still on. They were drunk and I kicked one off my steps and shut the door...while my wife yelled out the window and stuck my shotgun out..
They left and I thought the rest of the night would be quiet...wrong...they went to my neighbor`s house and he was more trusting than I was, they shot him dead and started looting his house..after that all hell broke loose..2 of his brothers were in the house woke up and a full scale firefight broke out. A stray bullet hit my nice travel trailer...one of the hoods got killed and 2 got away and the 2 brothers were heavily wounded.
One of these guys run into the woods because his buddy took off in their getaway car. But he did not get far because now everybody on my road woke up and a better than Hollywood style car chase started. I was supposed to come along with my F150 van, but I ran out of gas half way through it. The other guys caught him after they put a few rounds through his rear window, then they finished him off with a baseball bat and torched him in his car...after that they phoned the cops and told them to get that shit off our reserve. They got nailed because the call got GPS traced and their pickup was scratched up..but the judge ruled that they acted in "self defense" and they are back home. The other guy who attacked my neighbor was luckier...a K-9 team hunted him down and he is still alive:
Man charged in Long Plain First Nation homicide - Manitoba - CBC News
...see how dumb the press can be..they got that as 2 separate un-related incidences and the entire sequence of events and the dates are crap ..I guess they are a bit hesitant to come out here and do a few first hand interviews unless they have a SWAT escort and have it in writing that they are welcome on Long Plain First Nations territory.
See that`s why I admire Justin Trudeau..a LIBERAL, and could be Canada`s next prime minister..even though I`m an arch conservative...but he came and visited us and refused the usual RCMP escort and trusted his life into our LPFN security guards...and while in our midst and at our mercy Justin had the nerve to speak honestly about his intentions about resource development when I asked him...I might just vote for him because he has common sense, guts and a spine:





Back to the batteries, spectacular chemical reactions, torches and assorted impressive energy bursts..
Yeah with an "emergency" torch like that I could have vaporized these assholes right on my front door steps without leaving a trace and all the other stuff and the misery that followed would have never happened...I would not have to attend a funeral for my neighbor that always came over and lent a helping hand without me having to ask him