WHEN METAL BURNS
Channel: Lab Lulz
Date: 2019-08-31

Ichi no yoru - The City Lights Are So Beautiful (remember summer days mix)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJsUpeXK6Jo

Check this out: Random Experiments Int has a similar video on sodium!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhBpjSJhD5s

SAFETY
Lithium, magnesium, and calcium are flammable. They burn hot and bright. Extinguish with sand, not water!
Oxides and hydroxides of alkali and alkali earth metals are caustic. 

This is magnesium metal, in ribbon form. You might have seen magnesium ribbon burn. It has a brilliant light, even with this welding filter.

This bright flame is used in old camera flashbulbs like these. 
A nest of fine magnesium wire is wound between two electrical connections. A pulse of current ignites the magnesium wool. 

Something you might not have seen is the bulk metal burning. Let's light this chunk. It starts off with localized flickers and flashes. Accompanying these are cauliflower-shaped outgrowths. It looks a little like lightning flashing in cumulus clouds.  Eventually, the whole thing ignites in a proper flame. What remains is a hot pile of magnesium oxide, preserving the cauliflower shape. 

Other reactive metals can burn, and they can show the same behavior. Here is calcium flaring with a characteristic brick-red color. But it can also slowly smolder and puff up.

Here is lithium. Its scarlet flame and bubbling eruptions make it a crowd favorite.

I don't have a certain explanation for these outgrowths in burning metal.  I suspect it has something to do with combustion causing thermal expansion, leading to both increased oxygen exposure and increased thermal dissipation.

If you have more information, leave a comment!