In article ,
"DoN. Nichols" wrote:

On 2009-12-05, Gunner Asch wrote:
On 5 Dec 2009 01:55:15 GMT, "DoN. Nichols" wrote:

On 2009-12-04, Gunner Asch wrote:
On 4 Dec 2009 03:30:55 GMT, "DoN. Nichols" wrote:

Do you remember the old photographic flash bulbs? They may not
reach the same peak brightness as an electronic flash, but they burn a
lot longer, so the effect on your night vision is a lot greater (along
with the blue blobs floating where the bulb was in your field of vue
when it went off. :-)

And when gently cracked and then placed in or above above a container of
a flammable substance..make very nice and very positive ignitors.

Hmm ... *that* I didn't know.

Might come in handy in the near future...shrug.

Indeed -- given a supply of old unused flashbulbs. (Though I've
recently discovered that they are still made for a niche market -- caver
photographers who need a *lot* of light for their photos.

But did you know that if you placed one or more flashbulbs in
contact with the one which you are about to fire, those will go off at
the same time (or at least close enough so you could not tell the
difference without a scope and a photovoltaic sensor. :-)

Really? What sets the sympathics off? Its mearly a magnesium ally isnt
it?

Magnesium or sometimes very fine aluminum foil or wire -- but in
a pure oxygen atmosphere. So the intense illumination gets the wires
hot enough to start to burn in that pure oxygen atmosphere.

I recall that the metal is zirconium.

Joe Gwinn