'Amber bomb' in man's pocket sets him on fire

[dipsydoodle]

A pensioner suffered third degree burns when a chunk of white phosphorus he mistook for amber ignited in his pocket and set him on fire.

The 67-year-old man was on the Hubertsberg beach in north Germany when he spotted a yellow stone he believed was amber, which often washes up on beaches in the region, The Local reported.

The unnamed man picked up the stone and slipped it in his pocket. When he continued walking, the white phosphorus, which is dangerously flammable in the air above 30 degrees, burst into flames and set him on fire.

The man was in a particularly remote area of Steine in Schleswig Holstein but fortunately an angler spotted him in distress and called emergency services.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/amber-bomb-in-mans-pocket-sets-him-on-fire-9060856.html

Dangerous shit. I remember larking about with that at school when we got hold of some which had been stolen from the chemistry dept. of an adjacent school.

[madrchsod]

1. "larking about"

well that`s one i've never heard or read. goes to show ya...you learn something new everyday.

i wonder how long that chunk of phosphorus has been in the ocean.

[madokie]

2. Probably since ww2

[dipsydoodle]

4. Could be I suppose

Apparently its safe under water which is news to me because I thought it was only safe in oil.

[madokie]

5. If I remember right we had some in chemistry class in HS

and seems to me like it was kept in a beaker of water. But hell who knows my rememberer might be slipping a cog this morning too

At any rate gotta keep oxygen away from it as its the catalyst.

[Orrex]

6. They featured this on M*A*S*H* of all places

A soldier came in with white phosphorus shrapnel in his leg, and they dunked him in a tub of water to prevent combustion while removing the fragments.

Weird and wild stuff.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. You keep sodium under oil, and phosphorus under water

Does seem surprising it had lasted on the beach, however - I thought it was meant to be highly reactive with air, and the 30 degrees C isn't, as far as I knew, a temperature below which nothing happens at all.

[hobbit709]

3. Since phosphorus is highly reactive I wonder how a chunk got there.

[dembotoz]

8. in grade school a classmate had a pocket full of farmer matches that ignited while he walked

scarey at the time

remember him saying whats that smell
somethings burning
before it hit him.
pretty much my clearest memory of that year in school