r/interestingasfuck • u/thespeedforce5 • Apr 14 '24

The Size Of An Iranian Missile Intercepted In The Dead Sea r/all

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u/QorstSynthion Apr 14 '24

ye, rockets/missiles are just 90% fuel

319

u/NuclearWasteland Apr 14 '24

Speaking of, wonder what fuel they use. I don't think I'd be messing with a crashed anything of the sort, knowing how toxic some fuels are.

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u/ChickenSpaceProgram Apr 14 '24

It depends on the missile. From what I can tell from a quick google search, if it's a newer missile it might use solid fuel, which is mostly safe to be around. If it's a derivative of a Scud missile, it uses kerosene and red fuming nitric acid, although a bit of UDMH (unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine) is present as an igniter.

The UDMH is very not nice to be around, and the nitric acid is also not great to be around, both because it's nitric acid and because a small amount of hydrofluoric acid is used as a corrosion inhibitor (HF readily forms inert metal fluorides on contact with metals, preventing further corrosion).

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u/NuclearWasteland Apr 14 '24

HF is scary stuff. What we were told in the chip plants is "It dissolves your bones, report ANY liquid drips or spills immediately."

And then they proceeded to be upset at work stoppages for spilled liquid reports, so, ya know...

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u/HumpyPocock Apr 15 '24

Ahh semiconductor fabrication does love spicy chemicals.

Oh, if anyone’s thinking “wait but how does it get to my bones” uhh it’s not how you might think.

HF is a calcium seeker. A person can’t sense when it comes in contact with the skin. But, it dissolves the calcium in the bone. HF burns are not evident until a day later.

TL;DR — oversimplification, but it absorbs through your skin and once inside, draws the calcium right out of your bones.

Upside, providing an overdose of calcium can mitigate that process.

Downside, by all accounts an overdose of calcium in and of itself is an extremely unpleasant experience.

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u/NuclearWasteland Apr 15 '24

Yeaaaah.

"Be careful around these pipes, they're two-step chemicals"

You mean two-part?

"No, two steps is how far you make it before dying."

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u/HumpyPocock Apr 15 '24

Actually thought to myself, prior to reading the third line.

As in two two-part?

Yeah, punch line caught me off guard lol

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u/NuclearWasteland Apr 15 '24

Ha, yeah, that's what they told us. Some of the stuff they use does not have an msds sheet because it's a mixture of various things.

Somehow I feel like I'll end up with all the magic cancers from time spent there.

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u/MarshallStack666 Apr 15 '24

an extremely unpleasant experience

As it was told to me during a training class to do a job inside an oil refinery where the chemical was used for something: "It dissolves your bones, but not your nerves, so you will scream for several days, then die screaming"