Putting The Magic In Magnesium

My younger brother and I both went to the same high school. This story happened in my brother’s chemistry class. Thirty years later, I still regret that I did not witness it myself.

Our chemistry teacher was very chill, very good at explaining the most complicated stuff, and liked to demonstrate the properties of various materials in class. He was a very well-liked teacher for those reasons.

One of the things he would show each year was how magnesium powder would give a bright flash when set on fire. Important for this story: the finer the magnesium powder, the more potent the flash is. Also important: that year, he had gotten the magnesium powder from a different supplier than his usual one.

So that day, he was doing the usual explanation, took the magnesium from its container, and held a burning match to it. As my brother told me, there was an incredibly bright flash, and it took the students a minute to see the teacher again.

And there he sat in front of the class, face blackened with soot, eyebrows gone, blinking. (He was fine otherwise, no worries.)

Teacher: *Very matter-of-factly and calm.* “I think this supplier´s magnesium powder is much finer than what I normally use.”

Legend has it that several other classrooms emptied to come find out what the uproarious laughter was about. My brother still can´t tell that story without laughing.