Thermite burns at around 2500 °C, copper melts at 1085 °C. Solder melts at aroun... | Hacker News

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4gotunameagain on June 20, 2020 | parent | context | favorite | on: Strike a Solder Joint Behind Enemy Lines

Thermite burns at around 2500 °C, copper melts at 1085 °C. Solder melts at around 190 °C, and gunpowder burns at around 130 °C.

I believe that it quite improbable that it was thermite, probably gunpowder with some additives (maybe a pinch of magnesium?)

analog31 on June 21, 2020 [–]

Afaik there's a variation on termite that produced molten copper instead of iron. Don't remember the chemistry.

Gibbon1 on June 21, 2020 | [–]

Still used for bonding ground rods in high power systems.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBnbB3fiux0

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