Posthuman Blues: "This is a rock from Mars."

Sunday, March 22, 2009

"This is a rock from Mars."

Hopefully the world is never inundated by nanotech "gray goo." But if it is I have a feeling it will look something like this . . .

6 comments:

Anonymous said...: Yeah, good old mercury (II) thiocyanate, used to make the little pyrotechnic "black snakes" firework you used to be able to buy at 4th of July stands.

But if you're going to mess with this crud, only use it outdoors and stand upwind, as it gives off poisonous mercury vapors once ignited, which are quite toxic if inhaled. I wouldn't let kids get anywhere near it otherwise, unlike in the video.

Wonder what a few kilos of this stuff would look like burning on Mr. Wilson's lawn? More dramatic than a flaming bag o'poo, I'd venture. Yee-hah!

But if you're going to try and brew up a batch of this stuff, good ventilation, rubber gloves, fume hood, and a respirator should be used. Caveat emptor, indeed!

Here's another video from those crazy Serbs at www.chem-toddler.com of the pure compound combusting--starts at 1:22 minutes into the clip:

http://tinyurl.com/chsaq9; 3:56 AM
Anonymous said...: Damn you, now everytime somebody mentions ecophagy I'l be thinking of this. ;)

Ok, can somebody redo this experiment in a laboratory and pretend it's nanobots? :D; 7:17 PM
Mac said...: "Ecophagy"! Cool word!; 10:36 PM
steel building said...: That's all erroneous the thing you're telling.; 8:45 AM
paging systems said...: I absolutely tie in with whatever thing you have written.; 8:45 AM
Ashlee Dyer said...: Hi nice readiing your blog; 1:26 AM

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