Woman mistakes WWII-era munition for precious stone on German beach - Sensationalist Headlines

[quote] German authorities warned beach-goers about proper pebble-stowing technique on Saturday after a beach-goer accidentally pocketed a chunk of white phosphorus. A 41-year-old found the piece nestled in wet sand while taking a stroll along the Elbe river bank in the town of Wedel on Friday evening, police said in a statement.[/quote] [URL]http://www.dw.com/en/woman-mistakes-wwii-era-munition-for-precious-stone-on-german-beach/a-39977702[/URL]

I didn't know these also appeared at rivers. It's a really serious issue and the woman was massively fortunate that it didn't ignite when she was wearing the jacket. As the article points out, trying to douse the fire with water is useless. [del]Afaik it doesn't even go out if you submerge it completely.[/del] [editline]edit[/editline] see below

Everyone's heard of unexploded bombs, but I had no idea white phosphorus could linger like that in the open.

[QUOTE=Tamschi;52541856]I didn't know these also appeared at rivers. It's a really serious issue and the woman was massively fortunate that it didn't ignite when she was wearing the jacket. As the article points out, trying to douse the fire with water is useless. Afaik it doesn't even go out if you submerge it completely.[/QUOTE] It's worse than that. Not only does it burn at 5000f (2760c), instantly sealing the wounds that it creates, there are cases where once it enters the body it begins to poison it. The phosphorous added to the bloodstream can rapidly cause kidney failure, heart failure and liver failure. Inhaling the fumes alone can cause horrific burns inside the lungs and permanently damage the bronchial tubes. Willy Pete is not a fun friend.

[QUOTE=Im Crimson;52541892]Everyone's heard of unexploded bombs, but I had no idea white phosphorus could linger like that in the open.[/QUOTE] As far as I know, it's regularly washed ashore at the Baltic Sea. Its density seems to be less than twice that of water, so I assume it's easily moved around by currents while staying submerged most of the time. I don't expect the problem to go away in a thousand years, which is one more reason to ban these. Wikipedia tells me that the version used in incendiary bombs is mixed with rubber gelatine, which means it will stick to just about anything (any[I]one[/I]) once it ignites. I don't know how many of the fragments that appear here have this property, but going by reports I've read so far I'd say it's definitely possible to find those here. Some German cities were hit with incendiary area bombing in WWII, and incendiary bombs were dumped into the Baltic Sea to dispose of them.

[QUOTE=Tamschi;52541856]I didn't know these also appeared at rivers. It's a really serious issue and the woman was massively fortunate that it didn't ignite when she was wearing the jacket. As the article points out, trying to douse the fire with water is useless. Afaik it doesn't even go out if you submerge it completely.[/QUOTE] [url=http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/cen-v023n001.p040]Actually, it does.[/url] [editline]6th August 2017[/editline] WP requires oxygen to burn.

[QUOTE=download;52541966][url=http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/cen-v023n001.p040]Actually, it does.[/url] [editline]6th August 2017[/editline] WP requires oxygen to burn.[/QUOTE] I've read an incident report where the victim ran into the sea but failed to extinguish their trousers. It's possible that that was just unreliable recounting of events or some other things happening there, though.

[QUOTE=Tamschi;52541976]I've read an incident report where the victim ran into the sea but failed to extinguish their trousers. It's possible that that was just unreliable recounting of events or some other things happening there, though.[/QUOTE] There are a lot of myths out there about the more horrible weapons available to us so I'm not surprised.

[QUOTE=download;52541979]There are a lot of myths out there about the more horrible weapons available to us so I'm not surprised.[/QUOTE] Well, technically it was another case of unexploded ordenance turning up at a beach here in Germany. Your point still stands though.

Holy fuck just the thought of finding willy pete on a regular beach trip is scary.

[QUOTE=Tamschi;52541976]I've read an incident report where the victim ran into the sea but failed to extinguish their trousers. It's possible that that was just unreliable recounting of events or some other things happening there, though.[/QUOTE] Yeah it is a myth. The confusion comes probably as a result of WP reigniting when they exited the water. It is pyrophoric. It is largely irrelevant though. You would need to immediately submerge the entire affected area in water to extinguish the flames. This is doable, but, as others have suggested, the hard part is getting every last pebble of the stuff out of the wounds while submerged. As soon as it hits air, the party starts again. Meanwhile it has eaten it's way into your skin and is leeching into you blood stream, destroying your liver. WP was often preferred to frag grenades in WWII because it was so flexible in it's functionality. It is a smoke grenade, building destroying, and anti-personnel device rolled into one. Drag grenades really just don't even approach the usefulness of good ol Willie Pete Edit: It may also be that people are confusing WP with thermite. Thermite is used in some anti material grenades. Basically stick the thing on some moving metal part, pull the pin, and watch thermite weld it tight. Thermite contains its own oxidizer, so it cares not about it's surroundings. I imagine thermite works in vacuum too. You are so very very fucked if you get lit thermite on you. Unlit thermite is super benign though and is actually hard to ignite.

[QUOTE]white phosphorus[/QUOTE] :disgust:

The misconception probably comes about from the fact that most pyrophoric materials also react violently with water (alkali metals, alkali metal hydrides, alkyllithiums, alkylzincs, etc.).

WP wounds are pretty nasty too, literal chunks burnt off your body One of things I would definitely not want to live through if I survive getting burned by one

I had no idea that WP could even go into rock form. She's lucky she had her jacket off when it ignited.