# Thermite & Gasoline Car **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 7, 2016, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thermite-gasoline-car/756752 "2016-06-07T17:46:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Potestas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/50afbb/32.png) [@Potestas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Potestas)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thermite-gasoline-car/756752/1 "2016-06-07T17:46:17Z")
If you were to fill a junk car or a semi full with an even mixture of gasoline and thermite and set it on fire would it melt the car down to nothing? What would happen? ((Assuming that the vehicle is filled to the brim with the even mixture of gasoline and thermite)) ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thermite-gasoline-car/756752/2 "2016-06-07T17:52:16Z")
The gasoline would ignite, and burn until the thermite got hot enough to ignite, at which point the car would melt into a bright, glowing mass. ---
**Author:** ![excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e8c25b/32.png) [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thermite-gasoline-car/756752/3 "2016-06-07T18:05:39Z")
Why bother with the gasoline? ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thermite-gasoline-car/756752/4 "2016-06-07T18:12:35Z")
You get a long lecture from Smokey The Bear. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thermite-gasoline-car/756752/5 "2016-06-07T18:13:53Z")
I don’t know whether a gasoline fire would get hot enough to ignite the thermite. Wikipedia says “These temperatures cannot be reached with conventional black powder fuses, nitrocellulose rods, detonators, pyrotechnic initiators, or other common igniting substances.” ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thermite-gasoline-car/756752/6 "2016-06-07T18:16:15Z")
I’m not sure gasoline would burn hot enough to ignite the thermite. If it did then yes, the car would wind up as a puddle of liquid steel. It all depend on which flavor of thermite you use. Duct tape a chunk of magnesium to the thermite, let us know what happens … ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thermite-gasoline-car/756752/7 "2016-06-07T18:19:46Z")
Use a road flare to ignite the thermite and skip the gasoline entirely. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thermite-gasoline-car/756752/8 "2016-06-08T00:20:41Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > I don’t know whether a gasoline fire would get hot enough to ignite the thermite. Wikipedia says “These temperatures cannot be reached with conventional black powder fuses, nitrocellulose rods, detonators, pyrotechnic initiators, or other common igniting substances.” If the car has any alloy wheels or engine components, the gasoline fire may well set fire to the magnesium/aluminium alloy and that then sets fire to the thermite. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thermite-gasoline-car/756752/9 "2016-06-08T14:25:26Z")
A sparkler does a fine job igniting a flower pot full of thermite… Or so I’ve been led to believe. 😃 The gasoline is a waste and totally unnecessary. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thermite-gasoline-car/756752/10 "2016-06-08T14:41:01Z")
[Thermite vs. Car](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdCsbZf1_Ng&feature=youtu.be&t=170) ---
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thermite-gasoline-car/756752/11 "2016-06-09T19:46:12Z")
> [@swampspruce](#): > > A sparkler does a fine job igniting a flower pot full of thermite… Or so I’ve been led to believe. 😃 > > The gasoline is a waste and totally unnecessary. Unnecessary, sure. But a waste? It makes the fire bigger, if not brighter. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thermite-gasoline-car/756752/12 "2016-06-09T20:05:50Z")
> [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](#): > > Unnecessary, sure. But a waste? It makes the fire bigger, if not brighter. Waste not, want not. [George H Goble](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H._Goble) was ahead of his time when he cooked his hamburgers on the charcoal grill using [only a smouldering cigarette and LOX](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjPxDOEdsX8). He was awarded the [1996 Ig Nobel Prize (Chemistry)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ig_Nobel_Prize_winners#1996) for this. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thermite-gasoline-car/756752/13 "2016-06-09T21:08:31Z")
Assuming something gets hot enough to ignite the thermite there might be an explosion as a result of pre-heating a large portion of it to high temperatures with gasoline. It doesn’t seem likely that the thermite will ignite with just gasoline and air to heat it though. If there was thermite in the engine compartment along with a charged battery it’s possible that a short close to the battery could ignite the thermite mixture under some ideal circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thermite-gasoline-car/756752/14 "2016-06-09T22:06:05Z")
> [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](#): > > Unnecessary, sure. But a waste? It makes the fire bigger, if not brighter. Ok, the gasoline is utterly gratuitous, but does make a pretty fireflower. Happy now? 😃