On Mar 17, 2008, at 12:22 PM, Brian B. Riley wrote:

> There's no such thing as 'milder thermite'

That depends on how broadly you defined "thermite."  Traditional iron  
thermite is a member of a class of low gas solid phase oxidizer/metal  
"Goldschmidt reactions."  Depending on the choice of metal, oxidizer,  
and particle size, you can get reactions that go from a 30s/inch  
"delay" composition (tungsten/barium chromate) to near flash-powder  
burn rate and sensitivity (copper oxide/magnesium.)  There's a mix  
used in self-heating canned rations involving calcium silicide and  
iron oxide, for example...

BillW

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