Aluminum

[ronoc74]

Wikipedia has a good entry on the material we are using:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminum

Here's an interesting snippet:

For example, just a small amount of mercury applied to the surface of a piece of aluminium can break up the aluminium oxide barrier usually present. Within a few hours, even a heavy structural beam can be significantly weakened. For this reason, mercury thermometers are not allowed on many airliners, as aluminium is a common structural component in aircraft.

I guess that means mercury could eat the anodised layer off your wing spars or center section. If anyone has a reason to take a mercury thermometer in/near their RV, that's a good reason not to.

Conor
RV-9A 90990 fuselage

[Mike S]

Yep, I remember reading about this mercury/aluminum thing 45 or 50 years ago in a "Tom Swift" book.

Strange how obscure bits of info clutter up the old brain.

Mike

[mburch]

My wife (pharmacy doctor in training) tells me that there's evidence that aluminum dust is a neurotoxin that messes up the brain. Judging by the number of repeat RV builders out there, and the number of times I've said "geez, my next plane will be so much better," I'd have to say she's right...

mcb

[Ola]

Little known fact: An American aeronautical engineer removed the second "i" from aluminium to save weight.

[Hawkeye7A]

Originally Posted by Ola

Little known fact: An American aeronautical engineer removed the second "i" from aluminium to save weight.

That's friggin' excellent!! (Of course, maybe I'm just easily entertained.)

[billnaz]

FYI- if you drop a little piece of aluminum foil in a plastic soda bottle with a splash of pool acid in it and quickly tighten the cap, the bottle will blow up in your hands, burning you and plattering you with acid before you know what hit ya. Fun with chemistry!

really, don't do it.

[TShort]

yeah ... we used to know those as "Works bombs"
A few small pieces of Al foil, some Works toilet cleaner into a 2L bottle, tighten lid, shake, stand (way) back. Makes a pretty good explosion.

Thomas
-8 wings

[fodrv7]

If you think mercury is bad, the airline I flew for (though it is probably universal) had an absolute ban on carriage of Gallium. Once it got into the airframe you could scrap it. The airframe that is.
Pete.

[mlw450802]

Originally Posted by billnaz

FYI- if you drop a little piece of aluminum foil in a plastic soda bottle with a splash of pool acid in it and quickly tighten the cap, the bottle will blow up in your hands, burning you and plattering you with acid before you know what hit ya. Fun with chemistry!

really, don't do it.

When I was a kid, I used to make my own hydrogen for filling balloons by placing aluminum foil into a soda bottle that had a concentrated solution of lye (NaOH) in it. Just stretched a balloon over the mouth of the bottle and when it filled up, I tied it off with a string and released it to fly away. It was better than helium because it was lighter and the molecules were bigger and didn't diffuse through the balloon wall so quickly.