On Tue, 29 Oct 2002, Pierce Nichols wrote:
> > Beryllium melts at 1278C, but it's not a transition
> >metal.
>
> It's also toxic as all get out. That is a bad property.
It's also brittle, and hence very difficult to work with.
> ...Also, the oxide layer
> on Al forms on contact with air -- passivation just removes impurities and
> dirt from the surface and oxide layer.
The oxide layer is the only reason aluminum is a useful metal; bare
aluminum is extremely reactive. One offbeat amateur rocketeer fired a
water/aluminum hybrid -- the water is the oxidizer! -- which needed fairly
drastic measures to get the oxide layer off to get it started, but ran
just fine thereafter.
Henry Spencer
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
_______________________________________________
ERPS-list mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://lists.erps.org/mailman/listinfo/erps-list
