Talk:Thermite

message: I am surprised not to see this hazard mentioned in the main article. Another person has mentioned this in the discussion; the thermite reaction is so violent that you get higher frequency (higher energy) UV coming off of it, which is very bad for the eyes, either short term (retinal damage) or longer term (cataracts, etc). 
To give you some idea of the energy involved, at my last demonstration of thermite I surrounded the alum/iron mix with four 2 foot square boards wrapped in aluminum foil, shiny side out, forming (in effect) a reflective box with the top open, so that if a kid did not follow my directions and looked at the reaction, there was an extra margin of safety. After the reaction ran, I examined the four boards. The aluminum foil had been completely vaporized off the boards and the boards were charred. I guess aluminum foil isn't that reflective at those frequencies...
Could we at minimum say something like "There are concerns about the reactions givings off ultra-violet light and the reaction should not be wached directly"? Better safe than sorry ...
I thought about it a long time, checked my sources to be certain, then added one sentence that thermite throws dangerous UV and should not be viewed directly unless you're wearing protection such as welding goggles.
Thanks, 
      David Small (davidmsmall@gmail.com)
  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Davidmsmall (talk • contribs) 16:41, August 27, 2007 (UTC) 
: 100% agree. Also the hazard involving molten iron and molten iron sparks flying around may be worth mentioning, but I can't find any solid reference for the high radiation at the moment. Your tinfoil experiment is very interesting indeed, do you think that the tinfoil was vaporized by the heat (kinda melted-off) or due to a high radiation exposure?? IEEE 16:42, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Got a source on the emission spectra of common Fe/Al thermite, is it just due to blackbody radiation?
MutantGarage (talk) 07:09, 19 February 2009 (UTC)

text: I removed the mention of UV since there is nothing about it in the literature, and the emission spectrum is black body as far as I can tell... It might be dangerously bright, but I don't think it is bright in the UV region. See the paper "Temperature measurements of Al containing nano-thermite reactions using multi-wavelength pyrometry", figure 3. It's for Al/CuO but it's the closest I could find. There is virtually no emission below 400 nm. 155.198.65.73 (talk) 19:47, 26 October 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Thermite Reaction Throwing Dangerous Amounts of UltraViolet EMR 

message: A reaction equation should be included. Also, it should be more clear that this is not a burning reaction, in the sense tht it doesn't use molecular oxygen. Sikkema 23:42, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Making Thermite - reaction equation

message: I fail to see why "How to make thermite" is relevant to this article. It seems to be encouraging individuals to make some for themselves. Without a strong disclaimer, how can this be permitted?
But how else will stupid kids learn how to badly burn or kill themselves ? Incredibleman007 (talk) 16:50, 15 July 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Information, as are physical objects, is neutral. How we use it is the problem. The internet is wide open, so saying we can hide how to make thermite, explosives, poisons, or maybe even nuclear weapons is problematic, even if not desirable. 2001:48F8:405D:4BE:1F58:BA85:9764:5F86 (talk) 07:39, 18 November 2023 (UTC)
thread_title: Making Thermite

message: 3347.6 kJ/mol ? Wow, that is one enormous heat and energy yield. A noob's question then: Is it possible to use this as an alternative energy source? I could imagine steam producing facility with some kind of "reactor" where this reaction takes place. The ingredients may be not so cheap 1:3 (aluminum:iron oxide), but we need only a little to create a huge energy output. Iron is quite abundant overhere compared to say for example crude oil. So then, why not burn metals instead of fossil fuels? Also the reaction is gasless so no pollution takes place and the product is a pure molten iron, that can be used to produce steam (to propell our turbine) and then the pure iron ingot is a welcomed addition to our world. IEEE 23:38, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Energy Source?

message: The ingredients I have noticed is aluminium and rust, a reactive metal and a metal oxide. But how would you keep the aluminium staying just that and not oxidizing itself because aluminium is so reactive and oxidizes. So wouldnt the reaction really be aluminium oxide and iron oxide? --Anon.
:No, aluminium oxide and iron oxide would not react at all. As already mentioned in the article, a key point is that aluminium forms a passivation layer, so even though it is highly reactive it remains inert until melted. --Securiger 07:56, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Atmospheric oxidation is sometimes a disadvantage of using very fine aluminum powders in thermites, but this oxidation only occurs at high temperatures after the thermite has been ignited and then only in areas where the thermite can contact air.  Also, rust is not the best ingredient for thermite because it contains a mixture of iron oxides and hydroxides (Fe2O3, FeO(OH), Fe(OH)3, etc).
The reason aluminum is used in the reaction has less to do with passivation and a lot more to do with the activity series of metals. Thermite is a single replacement reaction! In the Activity Series, alumium is near the top, bested only by Mg, Sr, Ba, Li, Na, and K. Thus, only metals that are less reactive than aluminum (lower down on the series) will have their oxide "stolen" by aluminum allowing a thermite reaction. Aluminum "wants" the oxygen from the other metal. The higher up in the activity series the other metal is (chromium, titanium, iron) the less violently the aluminum will nab the oxygen! So, Copper, being very near the bottom of the activity series, will react very exothermically with the aluminum. Iron Oxide is used because its cheap, and yields a useful product (molten iron). So to awnser the question, the aluminum cannot already be reacted, otherwise it has no reason to "steal" the oxygen from the other reactant! —Kyanite 23:13, 6 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Aluminium and Rust? 

message: I just added the clanup tag because it looks to me like it could be better worded.
I just changed it from Iron(II) oxide to Iron(III) oxide.  Now I'm trying to document this and having trouble.  Can someone find a reliable source for whther it shouldbe ferric or ferrous? (Sorry if I changed soemthing that was correct). RJFJR 14:29, 24 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I suppose ferric oxide could be used in a thermite reaction, but ferric oxide (rust) is much more commonly used.  Iron (II, III) oxide (Fe3O4, magnetite) can also be used.  A source is at http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/demos/moviesheets/5.3.html, this seems fairly reliable and backs up ferric oxide.
Melt through concrete? is that possible?--XAdHominemx 21:37, 1 January 2006 (UTC)

text: I think this is an appropriate section for this discussion.--XAdHominemx 02:09, 2 January 2006 (UTC)

text: Yes, it's quite possible for concrete to melt, as was discovered during the investigation of the Chernobyl accident. Alphax τεχ 06:15, 21 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I thought the top was blown off by a H2 gas steam explosion... Besides, the temperatures reached during the Chernobly accident were much higher than those reached by the thermite reaction. --XAdHominemx 07:49, 22 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Hrm, apparantly the Elephant's foot was molten fuel, not concrete. I'll have to check up on this. Alphax τεχ 02:02, 3 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Cleanup tag 

message: "with sulfur it cuts throug steel faster." I removed this senetence from the article because it was placed innappropriately in the history section, needed correct spelling and punctuation, and is unsourced. I would encourage the writer to source it and correct the spelling because if it is true, it would be nice to include. Sifaka 21:57, 31 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  with sulfur it cuts throug steel faster 

message: As a compleat novice, I would like to ask the brain boxs out there, is it possible to make a usable propelent out of thermit? And if it is possible, what sort of casing could contain the energy and direct the power?
:Doubt it. Propellants and explosives are supposed to kick out a lot of kinetic energy, which thermite doesnae do. --maru   (talk)  contribs 05:51, 8 April 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: It occurs to me that you might be able to use thermite to heat/boil water (or some other liquid), producing a gas (water vapor or whatever) which could then be used as a propellant.  I'm sure it wouldn't be anywhere near as efficient as some other mixtures containing aluminum, but...  --MyrddinEmrys 08:08, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

text: At high enough temperatures and pressures, thermite would fission or fusion and produce sufficient energy to propel an object, even without gas released :) --Froth 22:45, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

text: Yep, no rocket fuel here.
Just to cut it short, solid rocket fuel is actually close to being an explosive. Now why doesn´t it explode when the rocket is fired ?
Because the fuel is in a long, cylindrical container. In the middle of the cylinder, all along the axis, is a solid steel rod.
This rod prevents the heat to set off the entire load of fuel immediately, ensuring a nice, slow burn lengthwise in the rocket.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.99.141.74 (talk) 18:50, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

text: Actually there have been rockets made using thermites.  I don't know that iron oxides / aluminum work, but CuO/Al definitely does, thanks to the vaporized Cu it produces, perhaps. - Hammilton  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.105.208.2 (talk) 08:42, 31 May 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Propelent 

message: citation is definately required on this one - while potassium chlorate is a strong oxidiser (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_chlorate) I'm not sure that ypu'd be doing much more than burning peanut oil here - not really a reaction in the same category as the thermite reaction—Preceding unsigned comment added by Peterxyz (talk • contribs) 
:Regarding peanut butter, I think the idea was to use it to ignite the thermite, but I don't know whether it actually works.  Also, we don't need to list every possible way to ignite thermite, just the common ones. -SCEhardT 22:27, 17 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  potassium chlorate and peanut butter 

message: "Conventional thermite reactions require very high temperatures for initiation. These cannot be reached with conventional black-powder fuses, nitrocellulose rods, detonators, or other common igniting substances. Even when the thermite is hot enough to glow bright red, it will not ignite as it must be at or near white-hot to initiate the reaction. It is possible to start the reaction using a propane torch if done right, but this should never be attempted for safety reasons."
A common detonator such as a blasting cap burns hotter than propane.
Dudtz 6/20/06 7:45 PM EST
:Blasting caps are designed for setting off a detonation in explosive materials, however.  The powder nature of Thermite would cause the material to spray everywhere rather than achieve the desired effect.  From what I understand, the fuses in thermite grenades activates a magnesium igniter.  A blasting cap is itself an exposive device meant to initiate detonation within military-stable explosives such as C4, which require both heat and pressure to activate. - Steelcobra 04July06, 0615 EST
:Supposedly cupric oxide/aluminum thermite can be set off by a blasting cap or a gunshot; I have seen videos of both.  However, this type of thermite often proceeds with reactants and products in the gaseous phase, as opposed to liquid with conventional (iron oxide) thermite. --24.16.148.75 19:48, 12 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: C4 does not conduct electricity.  As a secondary explosive, it is set off by a blasting cap.  The blasting cap is often ignited with an electrical ignitor.  From the article on C4, "The only reliable method for detonation is via a detonator or blasting cap." --24.16.148.75 19:48, 12 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Propane 

message: Informative but inappropriate, don't you think? --Froth
     Not particularly, the article is about thermite, its composition and uses. --Sarkmiegel
The correct term is anti-materiel, not anti-material.  Materiel is the correct term for military equipment.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.230.66.42 (talk) 17:51, 12 June 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  disabling artillery 

message: Having used both variants, (and done the chemistry and math), I fixed the mixup in the article regarding the iron oxides. Stoichiometric thermite made from Fe3O4 is very mild compared to the one made from Fe2O3. The latter burns so hot, the white-hot iron seems almost blue. If anyone has tried thermite from FeO (which might not even burn), that would be an interesting addition to the article. Also, rust is not actually Fe2O3, but a mixture of different oxides, hydroxides and carbonates of iron. The point here is that thermite made directly from rust would yield a significant volume of gases, possibly also hydrogen, all of which - at the very minimum - could result in lower quality welding joint or cast.
130.230.101.184 10:05, 30 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Corrected the mixup with iron oxides 

message: This article needs a great deal of cleanup and copy editing to improve its tone, remove redundant content, and remove or move trivia that dosen't contribute to the article as a whole.  Please help if you can!Iepeulas 07:18, 21 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Clean Up Jan. 2007

message: If anyone else watches Mythbusters, didn't they paint a small blimp with thermite and light it? It seemed to me that the reaction too place a lot easier than this article makes it sound. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.231.106.113 (talk) 07:41, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm not the best student, but I'm pretty sure I saw my college chemistry teacher take a ball of rust, wrap it in aluminum foil, and hit it with a hammer, thus initiating a thermite reaction. As far as mythbusters goes, they used both actual thermite and a dope containing unmixed thermite ingredients, so it rather depends which instance you mean. 66.41.66.213 07:28, 4 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Difficult to set off? 

message: The ability to carry energy is good in aluminium, which is effectively burned, which yields the reaction heat. The reduction of the iron(III) to elemental iron actually requires energy. A little besides the point; the production of aluminium from Al2O3 requres a vast amount of precious electrical energy. It can never be  fuel.Sikkema 23:55, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: One must be careful not confuse energy generation with energy delivery.  Hydrogen is easily and abundantly made by electrolysis and various chemical reactions.  The big question is, where does the energy to make them come from?  For electrolysis, energy from the usual places (coal, natural gas, hydroelectricity, nuclear and photovoltaics).  Hydrogen is not a source, only a delivery mechanism.  For an aluminum-iodine scheme, where would the energy come from?  I suppose one could mine aluminum ore, reduce it (or recycle beer and pop cans), dig up or extract iodine from seawater and combine it.  But it should be intuitively suspicious that the energy to obtain the materials could possibly exceed the reaction's output.  —EncMstr 23:20, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

text: The touch powder was most likely nitrogen triiodide.--GalFisk 15:27, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Enthalpy? 

message: of my own thermite mixture using iron (II,III) oxide... i felt it was necessary Tyklink 00:16, 6 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  added a picture 

message: I have a lot of experience with thermite, having burned at least 50lbs in my life (and I still have about 50lbs stored away), so I have tried many things with it.
I added and changed the section about igniting thermite with sparklers to warn that the sparks can ignite thermite.  Though iron is less reactive than magnesium, it can potentially burn at equal temperatures if the ratio of volume to surface area is sufficient and there is a sufficient supply of oxygen, since metals do not release cooling gasses as they burn (unless they evaporate).  I suspected that the sparks would ignite it, so I tried it a few times, and as I expected, the sparker sometimes ignited the thermite when the burning section was over a half a foot away from the thermite.  It helped if I sprinkled sand over the exposed thermite.
I also tried using a lighter, and it was surprisingly easy to ignite tiny piles of thermite by merely getting a spark to land on the thermite.
I also added that preheated thermite can flash-burn.  That is actually how I am able to get single globules of chromium of several grams each.  I pack some chromium oxide thermite into a large lump, heat it with two propane torches until the lump is glowing, and then point the propane torch in just the right spot and at the right angle to overheat it and initiate the reaction.  It burns much faster and hotter than it does if ignited while cold.  I tried this with iron oxide thermite, and it was obvious from my first experiment that preheated iron oxide thermite can burn almost explosively.
Joel 02:39, 9 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  I added a few items 

message: Both spellings are used, Aluminium would appear to be the preferred option.
:Per that, and given that the IUPAC recongnizes "aluminium" as the official spelling, I have replaced all remaining instances of "aluminum" with "aluminium".
:Jb17kx 11:34, 30 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Aluminum vs Aluminium 

message: "While the reaction using Fe3O4 produces a substantially larger amount of energy pr. mol, the reaction using Fe2O3, produces more energy pr. gram of thermite mixture."
This makes no sense as there is a direct relationship between moles and grams (of a given substance). I did rough calculations and found that Fe2O3's ΔH = -5 kJ/g (approximate number) and Fe3O4's ΔH = -13 kJ/g (approximate number). I can show you the math, if you don't believe me. Can someone explain why this information is on the page, short of my being completely incorrect in my understanding? I will remove the quoted passage by the end of the week unless given reason (factual) not to. Rmnguy 00:11, 11 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Energy output of the two types 

message: This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 07:56, 10 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  WikiProject class rating

message: "A significant danger of magnesium ignition is the fact that the metal is an excellent conductor of heat; heating one end of the ribbon may cause the other end to transfer enough heat to the thermite to cause premature ignition."
I removed this from the ignition section of the article because it is incorrect. Magnesium would melt before it transfered enough heat to ignite the thermite because its melting point is far below the ignition temperature of thermite. Also the Magnesium would probably ignite before it melted so in any case the thermite would not ignite before the flame reached it because magnesium hot enough to ignite thermite is well past its ignition temperature and so is lit therefore the burning Magnesium's flame reaches the thermite before it ignites. Incredibleman007 (talk) 17:47, 15 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Ignition 

message: What can extinguish a thermite/thermate fire?  will a class D extinguisher work?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by UltraMagnus (talk • contribs) 13:26, 6 September 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Extinguishing 

message: I see that some people in this forum question whether one should include "recepies" on how to make thermite or not. I personally believe that such information should be freely available (actually, it is today). If someone with more editing skills than me could insert the following table somewhere on the thermite page, I think it would be a nice contribution to the subject of thermite. The data are based on my own calculations, carried out using physical and thermodynamical data from CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 87th ed., 2006. I hold a master's degree in chemical engineering.
THERMITE					
Aluminum based					
Metal oxide		        Mixing ratios (MeO : Me) [w% : w%]		Released energy [kJ/g mixture]
Antimony(V) oxide	Sb2O5	78.25	:	21.75	4.404
Barium(II) oxide	BaO	89.50	:	10.50	0.062
Boron(III) oxide	B2O3	56.33	:	43.67	3.254
Cerium(IV) oxide	CeO2	82.71	:	17.29	0.137
Chromium(III) oxide	Cr2O3	73.80	:	26.20	2.603
Cobalt(II) oxide	CoO	80.64	:	19.36	3.451
Copper(I) oxide	        Cu2O	88.83	:	11.17	2.421
Copper(II) oxide	CuO	81.56	:	18.44	4.114
Gallium(I) oxide	Ga2O	89.63	:	10.37	1.168
Gallium(III) oxide	Ga2O3	77.65	:	22.35	2.430
Iron(II) oxide	        FeO	79.98	:	20.02	3.190
Iron(II,III) oxide	Fe3O4	76.29	:	23.71	3.677
Iron(III) oxide	        Fe2O3	74.74	:	25.26	3.985
Lead(II) oxide	        PbO	92.54	:	7.460	1.408
Lead(II,III,IV) oxide	Pb3O4	90.50	:	9.500	2.001
Lead(IV) oxide	        PbO2	86.93	:	13.07	3.052
Manganese(II) oxide	MnO	79.77	:	20.23	1.950
Manganese(II,III) oxide	Mn3O4	76.08	:	23.92	2.814
Manganese(III) oxide	Mn2O3	74.53	:	25.47	3.383
Manganese(IV) oxide	MnO2	70.73	:	29.27	4.858
Niobium(IV) oxide	NbO2	77.64	:	22.36	1.995
Niobium(V) oxide	Nb2O5	74.72	:	25.28	2.511
Silver(I) oxide	        Ag2O	92.80	:	7.200	2.112
Tantalum(V) oxide	Ta2O5	83.09	:	16.91	1.404
Tin(II) oxide	        SnO	88.22	:	11.78	1.820
Tin(IV) oxide	        SnO2	80.73	:	19.27	2.890
Titanium(IV) oxide	TiO2	68.94	:	31.06	1.495
Zinc(II) oxide	        ZnO	81.90	:	18.10	2.093
Thanks,
Helge Smedsrud (helge.smedsrud@gmail.com)  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Niob (talk • contribs) 18:34, 6 October 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: This would be interesting information to include, but I'm concerned that this is getting close to Original Research.  Are these values published anywhere in already-calculated form?  Are some of the reactions with low released energy (such as Barium(II) oxide) even self-sustaining?  Do all the reactions have readily attainable activation energies? -SCEhardT 20:55, 6 October 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Mixing ratios and released energy. Any interest?

message: "Magnesium strips do not need oxygen". Sure, they use dark forces to oxidize.
Fix the bug, please.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.80.98.111 (talk) 12:00, 31 October 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Magnesium burning process 

message: Why was the ratio of materials and chemical equations removed from this article? It is about chemistry and removing this information because "kids might make it" is pretty stupid and not based on policy eg Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not#Wikipedia_is_not_censored. It is simple to calculate, and you can find it all over the place on the internet so its not going to do anything to those that might be inclined to try it. Noodle snacks (talk) 02:30, 7 November 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Why were reactions removed? 

message: Can we add:
*Temperature at which common thermites ignite?
*Energy released by common formula for thermite? (May have been in the article previously but I don't see it now).
RJFJR (talk) 21:46, 14 March 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  add ignition temp and energy release for a common thermite formula? 

message: This is too trivial to add to the encyclopedia article but it is interesting: Thermite Thanksgiving.  I think I'll stick with the gas range.  davidwr/(talk)/(contribs)/(e-mail) 18:08, 27 November 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Cooking with thermite 

message: The assertion that nano-thermite is classed as an explosive appears to be unsourced. Might I recommend removal of this factoid unless a source is provided? Thistlethorn (talk) 20:30, 25 July 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Classed as an explosive? 

message: LOL  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.72.206.106 (talk) 20:48, 17 August 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: If we're voting here, I second the silly nature of that. Batvette (talk) 04:37, 5 November 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Disambiguation : Not to be confused with termite 

message: I know iron oxide is safe to eat, and I'm pretty sure you can pass aluminum with ease, so like...  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.11.36.169 (talk) 19:34, 10 March 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Edible? 

message: This pages should be potected from editing by newly registered users and unregistered users.  This is due to the high number of attacks on this page and the nanothermite page from all of the 9/11 conspiracy assholes. Whalerguy1 (talk) 19:36, 16 September 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Protect This Page 

message: I added 'Popular culture' section in 'Thermite' article with this info- "American TV drama series 'Breaking Bad'  depicts use of thermite to melt the locking system of a warehouse in the episode " A No-Rough-Stuff_Type deal"
I also added the reference for this. Somebody please tell me why was it deleted?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 182.19.53.134 (talk) 07:24, 27 December 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Someone must have thought it wasn't entirely notable. Fair point I guess. Although when I saw the title of this article I thought of Breaking Bad too, but that's only because I'd recently seen that episode. Maybe if Thermite was a recurring figure in the show. I don't know. --phocks (talk) 11:34, 28 November 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Popular culture 

message: Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that :File:ThermiteReaction.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on March 24, 2013. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2013-03-24. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page. Thanks! — Crisco 1492 (talk) 23:07, 10 March 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[:File:ThermiteReaction.jpg]] to appear as POTD 

message: The sentence "The aluminium reduces the oxide of another metal, most commonly iron oxide, because aluminium is more reactive is tautological and meaningless. The only factual statement that can be made about this reaction is that the reaction of metallic aluminium with metal oxides is exothermic with most (but not all) metal oxides. Reason? In its simplest form, the fuel (Al metal) is a stronger reducing agent than the metal (Fe) which is combined with oxygen in the oxidizer, but this begs the question, why? Look at the reaction:
:Fe2O3 + 2 Al → 2 Fe + Al2O3
The standard enthalpy of this reaction depends on the standard enthalpy of formation of the oxides. One way to rationalize the exothermic nature of the reaction is to say that Al metal is more electropositive than Fe metal and this can be quantified using Mulliken electronegativity, which, in this case, is mostly determined by ionization potentials. The more electropositive metal reacts with oxygen, under standard conditions, to form the oxide, giving out more heat (more exothermic), so it reduces the oxide of the less electropositive metal. 
The word reactive occurs 8 other times in the article. From a chemist's point of view this is very poor indeed. Petergans (talk) 08:32, 24 March 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Chemical reactions 

message: As stated in WP:UNIT “In science-related articles: generally use only SI units, non-SI units officially accepted for use with the SI, and specialized units that are used in some sciences. US Customary and imperial units are not required.” 135.19.148.107 (talk) 17:55, 30 June 2013 (UTC)
thread_title: Units

message: In the introduction, it states that thermite consists of metal powder, fuel and metal oxide. Two sentences later, it calls it a fuel-oxidizer mixture. In the following paragraph, it says fuels include [list of metals] and oxidizers include [list of metal oxides]. 
Are the metals the same as the fuel? If so, why are they listed separately?
Also, I think it would help to include in the introduction a linking sentence: "The metals serve as fuel and the metal oxides serve as oxidizers". Otherwise the lede is confusing to anyone that isn't already familiar with the chemistry of the thermite reaction.
178.38.89.226 (talk) 13:57, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Define the oxidizer in the lede 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: I would think the most important aspect of (most?) thermite mixtures is that one of the reaction products is metal in a liquid (molten) state. Shouldn't that be mentioned in the lede? Prevalence  17:13, 27 April 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Main property missing from lede? 

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Cheers.—cyberbot IITalk to my owner:Online 23:46, 26 May 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Since the Hindenberg's skin included the ingrediants for a thermite mixture, there has been speculation that thermite caused the fatal fire.  Just be sure to also mention that the Mythbusters busted that myth.  Seems those ingrediants were on different portions of the skin. Will (Talk - contribs) 02:16, 22 June 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Add mention of the Hindenberg? 

message: — Assignment last updated by ChemWorx (talk) 19:26, 16 April 2024 (UTC)
thread_title: Wiki Education assignment: Big Ideas in Chemistry