Of course, the Mooninite lite-brites were
dangerous. A self-igniting taffy-like goo in the river? No big deal.
Ah, Boston. Where nothing makes sense, and if anything made sense, they'd put a tax on it.
Wonder what this stuff was? Sounds almost like "willy pete", from the description...
Charles River cleanup blast injures five
A strange, 8-inch long taffy-like substance exploded and severely burned two people after it was fished aboard a Charles River cleanup boat yesterday.
Three Boston EMS workers who had arrived at a boat ramp near the Esplanade to help the injured themselves suffered minor burns and throat irritation from the substance, which emitted noxious fumes.
State police investigators are testing the substance to determine what it is, but a spokesman for the Suffolk District Attorneys Office said authorities are confident it is not an improvised explosive device.
The two severely burned workers were part of a Museum of Science crew that volunteered to clean the river. About 2:30 p.m., theytossed the object into a trash bucket. The boat was hugging the shoreline, when the bucket began to smoke, caught fire, then exploded, a source said. The blast shot debris at a man and burned his face, legs and hands. A woman was burned on the hands and wrists. Both were hospitalized.
At the dock, one of the EMS medics gloves contacted the material and began melting on his hands. Two others suffered irritated throats from the fumes.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1029873Taffy-like? Or waxy?
(global security) WP is a colorless to yellow translucent wax-like substance with a pungent, garlic-like smell. The form used by the military is highly energetic (active) and ignites once it is exposed to oxygen. White phosphorus is a pyrophoric material, that is, it is spontaneously flammable).
When exposed to air, it spontaneously ignites and is oxidized rapidly to phosphorus pentoxide. Such heat is produced by this reaction that the element bursts into a yellow flame and produces a dense white smoke.
