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Science Forum Index » Chemistry Forum » Flint Sparker in lighters
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| Bjorn Westergard |
 Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2004 2:44 pm |
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I've recently been toying with the "flint" in disposable lighters.
Anyone know what those are made out of? |
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| SNUMBER6 |
| Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2004 3:05 pm |
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Quote: From: sci@phrontist.org (Bjorn Westergard)
I've recently been toying with the "flint" in disposable lighters.
Anyone know what those are made out of?
As far as I can tell ... flint ...
Though other types of "rock" can have the same effect ... like ingeous rocks
Basalt and Rhyolite
or even a sufficiently hard metamorphic rock like Quartzite ...
The rocks making up the group know as "flints" are cheap and fragile ...
perfect for a disposable lighter ...
Be seeing you
In the Village
Number 6 |
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| Mark Thorson |
| Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2004 3:24 pm |
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| hanson |
| Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2004 3:29 pm |
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"Bjorn Westergard" <sci@phrontist.org> wrote in message
news:c1eb147e.0401021144.27909eb1@posting.google.com...
Quote: I've recently been toying with the "flint" in disposable lighters.
Anyone know what those are made out of?
Traditionally these little grey flint spark studs were made of an
alloy containing
Iron/Zinc/Mag/Cerium and other Lanthanides.
for details see: flint material in disposable lighters --> 3310 hits.
In the last 2 decades they were replaced by electronic/piezoelectric
spark generators.
hanson |
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| Muhammar |
| Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2004 5:30 pm |
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I believe that the metallic little piece that sparks is a lanthanoid
metal mixture. They use the mixture because it works OK and lanthanoid
separation is relatively costly. Obviously it is not worth separating
the naturaly occuring mix when you are using it as a flint surrogate.
sci@phrontist.org (Bjorn Westergard) wrote in message news:<c1eb147e.0401021144.27909eb1@posting.google.com>...
Quote: I've recently been toying with the "flint" in disposable lighters.
Anyone know what those are made out of? |
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| donald j haarmann |
| Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2004 6:14 pm |
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"Bjorn Westergard" <sci@phrontist.org
Quote: I've recently been toying with the "flint" in disposable lighters.
Anyone know what those are made out of?
---------------------------
Herbert Ellern
Military and Civilian Pyrotechnics
Mechanically-Induced Pyrophoricity
If ambiguity is to be avoided, the term "pyrophoric" should be used only when
ignition occurs completely spontaneously on exposure to air. However, we have
seen in the previous chapters that sometimes a modicum of energy input makes
the difference between mere rapid oxidation and flaming or glowing. This energy
may do no more than renew the surface of a liquid or it may simply bring fresh,
nonvitiated (i.e. of normal oxygen content) air to solid surfaces, intensifying the
rate of reaction in both cases.
When we read however, that an alloy of copper, zinc, and barium metal is
described as "pyrophoric, stable in air" [112] we realize that a second meaning,
that of "producing sparks when ground or abraded, [113] is attached to the word
pyrophoric, causing a need for clarification where the word pyrophoric is used
without further amplification. Metals and metal alloys of the spark-producing
category-borderline cases both of pyrophoric behavior and of pyrotechnic
interest-are the subject of this chapter.
The ancient method of striking together flint and steel or flint and pyrites not
only requires considerable effort, but it produces relatively "cool" sparks that
ignite tinder or black powder but not liquids such as alcohol, benzene, or
gasoline. These liquid fuels are easily ignited, however, by the very hot sparks
from alloys of cerium.
Cerium, a rare-earth metal of low ignition temperature (160oC), is a prodigious
producer of white-hot sparks when scratched, abraded, or struck with a hammer.
Most of its alloys share this property. In practice, the basis for spark-producing
"flints" as used in pocket
lighters is a mixture of about 50 % cerium with 25 0,0 lanthanum, 16 %
neodymium, and smaller amounts of other rare earth metals. It is called misch
metal (from the German Mischmetall meaning metal mixture); its ignition
temperature has been given as 150oC. The complex composition derives from
the nature of its raw material, the monazite sand.
Lighter flint alloys contain additions of iron (up to 30 %) for greater chemical
and physical resistance. The properties of cerium and its alloys are described in
some detail in the major inorganic encyclopedias and textbooks.
Misch metal, ground under xylene in small ball mills and incorporated into
bridgewire sensitive ignition mixtures and also in some delay formulas, was still
in use in Germany during World War II. [48] It seems to be quite unsuitable for
items that have to be stored for a considerable time.
Zirconium/lead alloys in a wide range of proportions spark or catch fire on
impact and have been proposed for use as impact igniters for incendiary bullets,
or as tracers that mark the impact of a projectile by the light effect. [114] Similar
alloys mixed with organic fuels are claimed in a U. S. patent as self-igniting
incendiaries. [115]
Alloys of either cerium or zirconium with soft metals such as lead or tin have
been described as prodigious spark producers. [67, 116] Very hot sparks are
also obtained by abrading uranium metal. [67]
As a final contribution to the use of sparking metal, it should be mentioned that
prior to the invention of Davy's safety lamp in 1815, devices seem to have been
used that continuously created sparks to provide some illumination in mines.
Mencken [117] quotes: "Life is as the current spark on the miner's wheel of flint;
while it spinneth there is light; stop it, all is darkness." However, the only
reference this writer could find on the subject, and a meager one, was by
Beyling-Drekopflf, where the devices are called Lichtmiihlen ("light-mills"). May
one speculate that it was recognized that such sparks were safer than rush-
lights,, candies, or oil lamps because they might have prevented the explosions
caused by firedamp? Biringuccio'3 speaks only of oils and resins as illuminants
in mines. His famous contemporary, Agricola, did not mention the subject at all in
his De Re Metallica. [117a]
--
donald j haarmann - colophon |
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| donald j haarmann |
| Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2004 6:16 pm |
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"SNUMBER6" <snumber6@aol.com
Quote: From: sci@phrontist.org (Bjorn Westergard)
I've recently been toying with the "flint" in disposable lighters.
Anyone know what those are made out of?
As far as I can tell ... flint ...
Though other types of "rock" can have the same effect ... like ingeous rocks
Basalt and Rhyolite
or even a sufficiently hard metamorphic rock like Quartzite ...
The rocks making up the group know as "flints" are cheap and fragile ...
perfect for a disposable lighter ...
Be seeing you
In the Village
Number 6
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*.... quaerit pars semina flammae Arstrusa in venis silicis---
Virgil
Walter Shepherd's (Strangely interesting!)
Flint: Its Origin, Properties and Uses
Faber and Faber London. 1972
"Before the Iron Age fire was produced either by striking pieces of pyrites
(or some similar mineral) with flint, or by knocking together two pieces
of pyrites, flint, chert, quartzite or quartz."
"In the Roman Catholic Church the opening part of the Easter Vigil
requires the paschal candle to be lit with a 'new fire'. Until 1970 this
had to be fire 'struck from flint'."
"To yield satisfactory sparks, the flint has to be of good quality.....
The flint is struck against the steel with a glancing blow, and the
sparks produced are white-hot particles torn from the steel by the
much harder silica of the flint."
Only the best quality flint was used for "gun flint" and the best of these
were made from "black flints" such as those from Grime's Graves
Norfolk, England.
"Just before the Crimean War 36 knapers at Brandon [England] were
sending 11 000 000 carbine flints annually to Turkey alone."
Trivia -
Flint like potassium nitrate is mentioned in Shakespeare!
The Crimean War is remembered by most for a woman who
spent 20 years in bed!!
* 'some seek the seed of flame hidden in the veins of flint'
donald j haarmann
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When the steele and the flint be knockde
togither, a man may light his [sulphur?] match
by the sparkle.
Richard Havey 1590 |
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| SNUMBER6 |
| Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2004 6:56 pm |
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Quote: From: "donald j haarmann" donald-haarmann@worldnet.att.net
Walter Shepherd's (Strangely interesting!)
Flint: Its Origin, Properties and Uses
Faber and Faber London. 1972
Nice ... Thanks for finding that ...
Quote: When the steele and the flint be knockde
togither, a man may light his [sulphur?] match
by the sparkle.
Richard Havey 1590
Good thing this fellow didn't post on the internet then ... the spelling flames
would run rampant ...
Be seeing you
In the Village
Number 6 |
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