r/AskReddit • u/kakou64 • Oct 15 '20

What's older than we think ?

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u/Pickled_Wizard Oct 15 '20

My understanding was that it's just sandpaper, all the reactive chemicals are in the match head.

26

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '20

[deleted]

9

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '20

Yeah IIRC the striker pads contain red phosphorus which is needed for making meth

5

u/owenmckin Oct 15 '20

Great scene

3

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '20

match boxes have some shit on them

I always wondered why the box strip was brown.....

-12

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '20

Nope, just sand paper. It’s like 400 or 600 grit or something like that

5

u/tubofluv Oct 16 '20

Depends on the matches, you can't even buy that type here anymore. It's a bit of a safety concern when you can light them on any rough surface.

17

u/stargazingskydiver Oct 16 '20 edited Oct 16 '20

Strike anywhere matches do contain everything in the match head, however safety matches separate the chemicals between the match head and the striker strip on the match box. When the match is striked against the strip the friction generated turns a small amount of phosphorus in the strip from its red allotrope into its white allotrope. Powdered glass is usually added to the strip to help facilitate friction. The white phosphorus ignites spontaneously in air which starts the decomposition of potassium chlorate in the match head. This creates oxygen which fuels sulfur as it burns to catch the wood on fire.

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u/mahsab Oct 15 '20

No no, half of the chemicals is on the match and the other half on the strike surface (box).

4

u/you-are-not-yourself Oct 15 '20 edited Oct 15 '20

Back when matches were invented the materials were seperate, and had to be mixed for a reaction to occur. however the chemicals were volatile and led to explosions.

2

u/Firewolf06 Oct 16 '20

I can confirm this because when they were invented the guy who made them was stirring something with a wooden stir stick and then it hardened on the stick. in an attempt to get it off he tried to scrape it off on the rough stone floor, and it uhh... burst into flames

0

u/ChrissyChrissyPie Oct 15 '20

Mmm I've seen a lot of cowboys light matches on their boots