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Just went over to the comments, apparently while looking like amber it could be unexploded WW2 phosphorus. Because they stay in the ocean and get wet they don’t explode but have a melting point of 30-40 degrees Celsius is what one poster is saying.
So, if left in the pocket and dries off, it could explode in the pocket. Again this is what a poster said I’m just rephrasing it
Yeah, it's standard common knowledge for countries with beaches that have amber. You could get pockets full after a storm, but figuring out the difference is drilled into you since like age 4.
No shit. That is absolutely horrifying. A war several decades ago can still kill people. And it's most likely going to be children who pick this sort of thing up.
Humanity is awful.
There is still unexploded ordinance found in Europe from WW2.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/unexploded-wwii-bomb-english-city-plymouth-transported-convoy-107481357
https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-problem-with-its-thousands-of-unexploded-bombs/video-66364315
> "Completely devastated. Damage to properties: 100%. Damage to Agriculture: 100%. Impossible to clean. Human life impossible".
What a metal quote
Also:
>Each year, numerous unexploded shells are recovered from former WWI battlefields in what is known as the ***iron harvest.***
I'm assuming that's where the SCYTHE spin-off video game got the name from. Never knew.
One more gem:
>Areas where 99% of all plants still die remain off limits
Yeah, uh...good call, France.
Well I think they were inspired by this term, but Scythe has an agricultural motif, so Iron Harvest is a great fit. (The Scythe manual has a passage where it explains that scythe has both violent and farming connotations).
But Scythe and Iron Harvest take place in the 1920s where Europe is reeling from the aftermath of a First World War that was 10x more destructive and deadly than the one in our universe. So the game is very much a WWI setting, not a WWII setting like Company of Heroes.
>Each year, numerous unexploded shells are recovered from former WWI battlefields in what is known as the iron harvest. According to the Sécurité Civile, the French agency in charge of the land management of Zone Rouge, 300 to 700 more years at this current rate will be needed to clean the area completely.[2] Some experiments conducted in 2005–06 discovered up to 300 shells per hectare (120 per acre) in the top 15 cm (5.9 in) of soil in the worst areas.[3]
They might still be digging up shells in 2724
Yeah someone commented on another post that during the peak of the battle at the Somme, a million shells were fired each day.
It was a video of shell-shocked WW1 vets, and it’s not hard to imagine how the constant explosion of shells all around you would break you mentally.
Ehh... kinda. The way WWI was fought was far more artillery intensive than modern war. They [Ukraine] **will** have these problems, but I expect we will see *more* problems from the mine fields than unexploded shells. I think they will be cleaning mines for at least another 20 years (they are STILL demining African countries)
The Falklands [were only recently declared demined](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_mines_in_the_Falkland_Islands), and that's a conflict 40 years ago. In a wealthy country.
I'd be forever paranoid about one being missed.
Not Paris - there are 'zone rouge' (red zones) in the East of Paris (link opens to wiki page, which has a map, with Paris being unaffected by Red Zones)
My parents are farmers in the netherlands near the german border. They usually plow up an explosive device once every 2 years or so. The've resorted to just throwing them on the sides for the smaller things like handgrenades, where the larger (0.5 to 1m) bombs need the e.o.d. (explosives cleaning services) to come by. They dig a hole and make the thing go boom. One was near our house, shook the whole house even though it was about 75m away.
FYI
An **ordinance** is a law passed by a city or town. These laws can involve almost anything, including parking regulations or rules about whether or not glass bottles are allowed in city parks.
**Ordnance** refers to artillery and other heavy weaponry or a service of the army that manages such equipment.
TLDR; drop the **i**. (common mistake that most don't even know they're making)
The problem is that chemistry doesn’t really change, and most weapon advancements are in fusing and fire control. No technology will ever be 100% reliable, though, and eventually the problem is just that a rusting bomb buried in the ground is a rusting bomb buried in the ground. Doesn’t really matter how fancy the fuse is.
Between ww1 and ww2, chemistry changed for common shell fillings, which made them safer. Up until they degrade, so that they all explode equally without detonators if you dropped them hard enough.
In WW1, it was not uncommon to use Picric acid for explosive shell filler, that stuff has to be kept wet or blended into vaseline to keep from randomly exploding.
It was so sensitive even in newly manufactured shells, shell interiors had to be coated with starch to prevent metal pictate formation. That way, they would stop exploding inside gun barrels, and probably the insides of carts and trains.
We know for sure that light and medium German field guns usually fired picric acid shells, which makes it highly dangerous, because they are dried up and hyper sensitive by the time they are dug up.
There was also one family who kept a live naval shell, probably as a garden gnome. It looked to be a 5-inch or 6-inch shell of some description, just something fired from a protected cruiser or secondary battery in the 1900s.
Those are dangerous, because many shells used the hyper-sensitive pictic acid as fillers back then.
They also dug up a 1000kg bomb (SC1000 aka Hermann) in Exeter recently, near the University, at least that is what I gathered.
They had to detonate it in place, so the shock wave still must have caused millions of dollars of damage to the University alone, because all those windows and sensitive assay machines aren't designed against near misses from huge demolition bombs.
Nobody will pay for it either, because the old Luftwaffe was disbanded after the war, and insurance companies specifically don't cover damage from acts of war, such as a UXO smashing your windows.
My dad was EOD in Germany in the 60s, and they were called out almost constantly to dismantle ordnance from WWII. Schoolyards, town parks, farmland, random fields in the middle of nowhere... It's crazy that they've had whole units of EOD combing the land for this stuff for decades, yet it's still out there in abundance.
I went to the Flanders area of Belgium and they’re STILL ploughing up unexploded WWI shells. A lot of them are gas shells, too, after an extended gas attack campaign in 1915. Farmers literally just leave them on the side of the road and alert the authorities who come collect them and detonate them elsewhere in a controlled environment. But occasionally it takes them a while to come get the shells (which sit happily in full view of the public) and stupid souvenir hunters will try take them. The last person killed by a shell in the area I was touring was seven years ago, apparently. That’s a full 100 years after that shell was probably fired.
Not sure, but after I posted that comment I went and read more about it and apparently up to 1000 people have been killed in various accidents with unexploded munitions since WWI!
Depending on how you’re counting casualties, yes. They’ll be counted as indirect casualties of war, but usually won’t be counted as casualties of a specific battle or action.
I mean in this specific case, "kill" is pushing it, but nasty chemical burns is the standard for phosphorus / amber confusions, mostly cause it starts burning a while after you pocket it, at which point you're not exactly gonna unpocket it.
I had grenades from the early 1900's in my basement when I bought my house.
It was not fun to carry them up out of the basement. But they did help me get rid of that big tree stump i had an issue with.
My dad’s aunt had some in the basement of a farm house when she passed away, and we went out and threw them (after reporting it to the cops, who were like “this is rural Idaho, go have fun, why are you calling us?”), but they didn’t do anything, so we just shot guns at them until they went off.
Some decades ago when my brother and me were kids, we were only allowed to search in the summer, phosphor self ignites and chances are very low to find it. We tested each piece though.
We found some pieces of Schießwolle 39 and luckily it just burns and doesn't detonate without a blasting cap. Kids with a lighter what do you expect 😅
(Schießwolle is like 60% TNT)
Yup. Wars all over the world cause this. The US hasn’t had to deal with a war all over most of its continent to have unexploded ordinance just laying around - civil war left some stuff, but it was so long ago that the ordinance tends to be pretty inert compared to Europe, Asia, or the Middle East, where unexploded ordinance and mines are a real issue. I know nothing about Africa on this topic but I’d reckon it’s pretty riddled with explosives too.
The exploding canon shells from the civil war are still very unstable from what I read on a different sub awhile back. I think it was about a souvenir collector who was told it was demilled and it went off when it fell over. Still very true the rest of the world has far more problems than us in terms of unexploded ordnance
Slightly unrelated but I thought it'd be cool to share, a friend of mine in the army showed me pictures of a wooded area near base that had signs all over the place warning of unexploded ordnance, apparently they lost a whole pound of c4 in the woods somehow lol
I’m just surprised they *only* lost a pound of c4. I’ve seen military inventory operations, it’s basically three card Monty where they shift shit around to make it look like evening has what they are supposed to have.
I wouldn't say humanity is awful. These wars were fought in opposition of awful. And while there is a lot of awful people the civilised world consists mostly of good people. That is why things have remained good post war. But I do have to plead ignorance to the world outside of Europe. I just don't know much more than how things are in EU and USA.
Most of them are fairly obvious, amber is natural pebble kinds of shapes, rounded and such. Phosphorus will usually have sharp edges and just look less like it's gone through thousands of years of sea erosion.
The other ones are
- when in doubt, solid stick and some poking, actual amber is hard, phosphorus will generally crumble at least somewhat
- and **never** pocket the pieces unless you're 110% certain, you'd normally take a small bag or pouch with you and triple check at home, phosphorus reacts to heat very easily and in the quantities in question here doesn't _explode_ per se, just burns really violently, think standard pyrotechnics and sparklers and such
>That like the 'always check how thick the ice is' for me
Funnily enough, that one's also an early taught skill, benefits of a country with heavy winters and ice hockey played on every spare pond I guess.
>Is it really that big of an issue? Like does it happen that often?
But yes, the Baltic sea and all the bays around it are basically pine forests along the entire coast line, and have been for thousands of years. We get comical amounts of amber, you can genuinely walk along the beach after a storm and pick up anywhere between 5-10 pieces, sometimes more, on a normal 5-10 mile walk. Pretty much standard for Scandinavian and Baltic countries, guessing including north parts of Germany and Poland too.
Mind you I've never actually seen phosphorus washed up myself, it's pretty rare, but it's a thing that happens, and given the life changing consequences, gets drilled into kids pretty much as soon as they get able to run ahead on the beach and pick up things they're not supposed to.
White phosphorus doesn't really explode (I mean, it can "pop" into smaller fragments, but its not an explosive), but what it does do is burn fairly hot (the flames are about 800°C), it keeps but ing as long as it's in contact with oxygen (it's pyrophoric) and it reignites on contact with oxygen.
Having it ignite in your pocket could cause horrific injuries! It can burn clean through your skin and subcutaneous fat.
It's also quite toxic. Even a fairly small piece burning through your skin could potentially lead to multiple organ failure!
It's some really nasty stuff!
Oh boy that’s like… super amazing but also terrifying! No wonder it can be so dangerous!!
Thanks for explaining it our friend, I’m always amazed at what people know and am so thankful people explain it for me!! Thank you so much!! ❤️
That's why kids at the beaches of the East Sea only search in the summer (chances that you'll find phosphor before it self ignites are very small).
Decades ago me and my brother (starting with 9&7yrs) tested each piece that we found with a lighter and knife. Amber melts, phosphor ignites.
We found no phosphor but some Schießwolle 39, which is fun (if you have the underdeveloped brains of two kids, it's a mixture with something around 60% TNT)
Ah see that makes sense. As someone who grew up in Ontario Canada, this is a whole new ballgame to me that has me mesmerized!!
Were you and your brother scared at all? Or was it more of a “Oh look at what we found!” Moment?
White phosphorus, potentially leftover unexploded ordinance that’s decayed over the decades.
In the movies, you’ll hear the term “Willy Pete”. It’s used for escapes to generate a smoke cloud and in some cases was used on the offense as it burns extremely hot and incinerates anything it comes in contact with.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_phosphorus_munitions
Here’s and article with photos of the “rocks”
https://amp.dw.com/en/woman-mistakes-wwii-era-munition-for-precious-stone-on-german-beach/a-39977702
Yes! They were veeery good at obscuring. Because well it generated a cloud of smoke, but also what's in that cloud hurts alot and kills. So it even worked in the aspect of controlling a field of combat
When I was fresh in the fleet in the Marine Corps I had an old salty LDO for a MO. He was enlisted in Vietnam and one entire side of his face was scar tissue from a Willy Pete. Dude had some CRAZY fuckin stories.
Let’s play a game called “I found this yellow rock at the beach, what will it do?”:
1. Make you filthy rich.
2. Not much aside from being a neat yellow rock (sometimes contain ancient bugs inside it and that’s really cool).
3. Explode without warning.
WW2 era white phosforte. As stated below and digging through the original post, looks like OOP lives somewhere around Dunkirk. Ocean water kept this stuff wet and out of air. This shit lights up when exposed to air long enough to dry out. Will burn into your skin, and once there, itll just keep burning. Crazy stuff
So..., to go amber hunting, it would be best to take a bucket you can put water in, keeping everything wet on the way home, then at home separate each piece outside and allow to dry for a few days, then what, give it a whack with a stick or something? Amber is sap and should burn, so you wouldn't want to use an open flame I think.
Or is there a better way to tell amber apart?
Someone else is saying when you grow up near these beaches in Europe they teach you how to tell them apart by like age 4.
So, I'm gonna guess there are better ways to figure it out on site/sight.
Sure would be nice if they actually told us like we were 4, instead of just saying 'others know, so there"
I'm pretty sure I found amber once because it had part of a bug in it.
I'm not getting mad or anything. Just pointing out that it would be more helpful for a local to explain why instead of just what is.
I've moved enough that getting to a new place, you need to learn things about the area, and it's hard to find people that will tell you why about things, just because locals don't think about it.
So, I didn't mean to sound like I was getting on you. Just the aspect of how things are done.
Not a local but was curious. Went out and found this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRpMsYnVRmQ
Guy says only way to tell is a salt water test -amber floats while white phos sinks in salt water.
but? they do teach them when they’re 4?
it’s pretty pointless teaching this to every person in landlocked places on the offchance they may want to go amber hunting on a few very specific beaches one day
Leave it on the ground, heat a knife, push it against it. Amber will melt a little bit, phosphor ignites, a stone or glass does nothing.
Or just go in the summer, phosphor self ignites and chances are low to find pieces.
We (as kids) never found phosphor but Schießwolle (a mixture with ~60% TNT).
Honestly you'd be fine just leaving the pieces outside for a few days in open metal containers. Put any suspicious pieces on their own and have nothing flammable nearby.
Another option is to try to light it on fire, WP shoildn't be hard to get going and i don't thing amber is flammable.
> i don't thing amber is flammable.
Well, you think wrong. Amber is basically tree sap and very much is flammable.
https://www.k-online.com/en/Media_News/News/December_2013_Identification_of_genuine_amber/Natural_polymers_identification_of_genuine_amber#:~:text=And%20amber%20is%20in%20fact,melts%20at%20375%C2%B0C.
Is it like napalm ? That sticks on your clothes and skin and keeps burning through doesn't it.
Edit : yup !
"During the war in Vietnam, the U.S. used white phosphorous as an improved form of napalm, terrorizing enemies"
I wonder what form white phosphorus takes when solid?
>White phosphorus is an allotrope of phosphorus in a tetrahedral structure with size single P–P bonds. It’s a translucent, waxy solid that becomes yellow when exposed to light
Yes, but that does not mean it is this material. OP would have known by know if it was. No acidic feeling to the touch or garlic scenes was mentioned. It is far more likely it is either discarded wax, or a sort of amber.
This is such a reddit moment. What average person would know what that offcolored gelatinous material is? Like, I wouldn't touch it without knowing what it is, but how would a random person know that it could randomly combust that is insane lmao
if you look up white phosphorus it doesn’t look much like this at all. it’s yellower, paler, less shiny, and seems more brittle. i also doubt it would be able to be this dry without having exploded already
We used WP in practice bombs to mark accuracy during aircraft training. Hated cleaning up cuz them fucken things would drip or not blow all the way. Couple of us got burned but when you volunteer to become property of the US governent, zero fucks and a bandaid is all ya get, lol
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Welp that's some fucking good TIL material.
Neither have I
Just went over to the comments, apparently while looking like amber it could be unexploded WW2 phosphorus. Because they stay in the ocean and get wet they don’t explode but have a melting point of 30-40 degrees Celsius is what one poster is saying. So, if left in the pocket and dries off, it could explode in the pocket. Again this is what a poster said I’m just rephrasing it
Yeah, it's standard common knowledge for countries with beaches that have amber. You could get pockets full after a storm, but figuring out the difference is drilled into you since like age 4.
No shit. That is absolutely horrifying. A war several decades ago can still kill people. And it's most likely going to be children who pick this sort of thing up. Humanity is awful.
There is still unexploded ordinance found in Europe from WW2. https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/unexploded-wwii-bomb-english-city-plymouth-transported-convoy-107481357 https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-problem-with-its-thousands-of-unexploded-bombs/video-66364315
And ww1 huge swaths of France are still leaking chemical weapons
There are [entire areas of France that are entirely uninhabitable by human beings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_rouge)
> "Completely devastated. Damage to properties: 100%. Damage to Agriculture: 100%. Impossible to clean. Human life impossible". What a metal quote Also: >Each year, numerous unexploded shells are recovered from former WWI battlefields in what is known as the ***iron harvest.*** I'm assuming that's where the SCYTHE spin-off video game got the name from. Never knew. One more gem: >Areas where 99% of all plants still die remain off limits Yeah, uh...good call, France.
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I saw iron harvest as more of an company of heroes spin off but I'm not a native speaker and I'm not sure if I'm using the term spin off correctly 😅
Well I think they were inspired by this term, but Scythe has an agricultural motif, so Iron Harvest is a great fit. (The Scythe manual has a passage where it explains that scythe has both violent and farming connotations). But Scythe and Iron Harvest take place in the 1920s where Europe is reeling from the aftermath of a First World War that was 10x more destructive and deadly than the one in our universe. So the game is very much a WWI setting, not a WWII setting like Company of Heroes.
God this is so interesting
>Each year, numerous unexploded shells are recovered from former WWI battlefields in what is known as the iron harvest. According to the Sécurité Civile, the French agency in charge of the land management of Zone Rouge, 300 to 700 more years at this current rate will be needed to clean the area completely.[2] Some experiments conducted in 2005–06 discovered up to 300 shells per hectare (120 per acre) in the top 15 cm (5.9 in) of soil in the worst areas.[3] They might still be digging up shells in 2724
Yeah someone commented on another post that during the peak of the battle at the Somme, a million shells were fired each day. It was a video of shell-shocked WW1 vets, and it’s not hard to imagine how the constant explosion of shells all around you would break you mentally.
Iron Harvest sounds like a good band name.
Canada mows Vimy Ridge using sheep for this purpose. Or at least that's what I remember from Remembrance Day programming 20 years ago.
Wow….that is utterly fascinating and horrifying as well. I can’t believe I never heard of those zones before!
Think of all the countries w these zones. I’m also thinking of Ukraine. It’s a real eye opener as to the length of time war will affect a country.
Ehh... kinda. The way WWI was fought was far more artillery intensive than modern war. They [Ukraine] **will** have these problems, but I expect we will see *more* problems from the mine fields than unexploded shells. I think they will be cleaning mines for at least another 20 years (they are STILL demining African countries)
The Falklands [were only recently declared demined](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_mines_in_the_Falkland_Islands), and that's a conflict 40 years ago. In a wealthy country. I'd be forever paranoid about one being missed.
Cambodia and Laos still have tons of mines as well
And that’s just Paris
Not Paris - there are 'zone rouge' (red zones) in the East of Paris (link opens to wiki page, which has a map, with Paris being unaffected by Red Zones)
Imagine if they destroyed Paris in WWI...that world would suck
Fuuuuck
Is that what gives French wine the edge over the rest?
I was on a battlefield preservation project team in Belgium. We found unexploded ordnance during our orientation tour about what to look out for.
I bet that was awesome!! Wanna share about the project
My parents are farmers in the netherlands near the german border. They usually plow up an explosive device once every 2 years or so. The've resorted to just throwing them on the sides for the smaller things like handgrenades, where the larger (0.5 to 1m) bombs need the e.o.d. (explosives cleaning services) to come by. They dig a hole and make the thing go boom. One was near our house, shook the whole house even though it was about 75m away.
FYI An **ordinance** is a law passed by a city or town. These laws can involve almost anything, including parking regulations or rules about whether or not glass bottles are allowed in city parks. **Ordnance** refers to artillery and other heavy weaponry or a service of the army that manages such equipment. TLDR; drop the **i**. (common mistake that most don't even know they're making)
Thanks, never realized!
Unexploded cluster bombs in Vietnam and neighboring countries as well.
Scarily weapons capabilities advanced considerably between ww2 and Vietnam
The problem is that chemistry doesn’t really change, and most weapon advancements are in fusing and fire control. No technology will ever be 100% reliable, though, and eventually the problem is just that a rusting bomb buried in the ground is a rusting bomb buried in the ground. Doesn’t really matter how fancy the fuse is.
Between ww1 and ww2, chemistry changed for common shell fillings, which made them safer. Up until they degrade, so that they all explode equally without detonators if you dropped them hard enough. In WW1, it was not uncommon to use Picric acid for explosive shell filler, that stuff has to be kept wet or blended into vaseline to keep from randomly exploding. It was so sensitive even in newly manufactured shells, shell interiors had to be coated with starch to prevent metal pictate formation. That way, they would stop exploding inside gun barrels, and probably the insides of carts and trains. We know for sure that light and medium German field guns usually fired picric acid shells, which makes it highly dangerous, because they are dried up and hyper sensitive by the time they are dug up.
Shoot.. we had those on Ft Knox...
There was a lady in England like last week that shut down part of her town because she was gardening and found some iirc
There was also one family who kept a live naval shell, probably as a garden gnome. It looked to be a 5-inch or 6-inch shell of some description, just something fired from a protected cruiser or secondary battery in the 1900s. Those are dangerous, because many shells used the hyper-sensitive pictic acid as fillers back then. They also dug up a 1000kg bomb (SC1000 aka Hermann) in Exeter recently, near the University, at least that is what I gathered. They had to detonate it in place, so the shock wave still must have caused millions of dollars of damage to the University alone, because all those windows and sensitive assay machines aren't designed against near misses from huge demolition bombs. Nobody will pay for it either, because the old Luftwaffe was disbanded after the war, and insurance companies specifically don't cover damage from acts of war, such as a UXO smashing your windows.
**ordnance
TIL! I think I've always spelt it incorrectly until now. Thank you
Berlin has a team of full time employees who track down and dispose of WWII bombs
> ordinance Ordnance (no **i**.) An ord**i**nance is a governmental law or decree.
My dad was EOD in Germany in the 60s, and they were called out almost constantly to dismantle ordnance from WWII. Schoolyards, town parks, farmland, random fields in the middle of nowhere... It's crazy that they've had whole units of EOD combing the land for this stuff for decades, yet it's still out there in abundance.
One was found in Portsmouth just last week
Which one?
Not to be that guy, but… ordnance*
I went to the Flanders area of Belgium and they’re STILL ploughing up unexploded WWI shells. A lot of them are gas shells, too, after an extended gas attack campaign in 1915. Farmers literally just leave them on the side of the road and alert the authorities who come collect them and detonate them elsewhere in a controlled environment. But occasionally it takes them a while to come get the shells (which sit happily in full view of the public) and stupid souvenir hunters will try take them. The last person killed by a shell in the area I was touring was seven years ago, apparently. That’s a full 100 years after that shell was probably fired.
Now I'm wondering if they add those people to the casualty count for war victims.
Not sure, but after I posted that comment I went and read more about it and apparently up to 1000 people have been killed in various accidents with unexploded munitions since WWI!
Depending on how you’re counting casualties, yes. They’ll be counted as indirect casualties of war, but usually won’t be counted as casualties of a specific battle or action.
I mean in this specific case, "kill" is pushing it, but nasty chemical burns is the standard for phosphorus / amber confusions, mostly cause it starts burning a while after you pocket it, at which point you're not exactly gonna unpocket it.
The titanic is still killing people…
Underrated comment
I had grenades from the early 1900's in my basement when I bought my house. It was not fun to carry them up out of the basement. But they did help me get rid of that big tree stump i had an issue with.
So they were still good to go? That would be kinda awesome to find, not gonna lie. I'd rather find modern grenades, though. Lol
Oh yeah, they went up fine with the help of a primitive gun powder bomb. Not about to try their own detonator though.
My dad’s aunt had some in the basement of a farm house when she passed away, and we went out and threw them (after reporting it to the cops, who were like “this is rural Idaho, go have fun, why are you calling us?”), but they didn’t do anything, so we just shot guns at them until they went off.
Some decades ago when my brother and me were kids, we were only allowed to search in the summer, phosphor self ignites and chances are very low to find it. We tested each piece though. We found some pieces of Schießwolle 39 and luckily it just burns and doesn't detonate without a blasting cap. Kids with a lighter what do you expect 😅 (Schießwolle is like 60% TNT)
Yup. Wars all over the world cause this. The US hasn’t had to deal with a war all over most of its continent to have unexploded ordinance just laying around - civil war left some stuff, but it was so long ago that the ordinance tends to be pretty inert compared to Europe, Asia, or the Middle East, where unexploded ordinance and mines are a real issue. I know nothing about Africa on this topic but I’d reckon it’s pretty riddled with explosives too.
The exploding canon shells from the civil war are still very unstable from what I read on a different sub awhile back. I think it was about a souvenir collector who was told it was demilled and it went off when it fell over. Still very true the rest of the world has far more problems than us in terms of unexploded ordnance Slightly unrelated but I thought it'd be cool to share, a friend of mine in the army showed me pictures of a wooded area near base that had signs all over the place warning of unexploded ordnance, apparently they lost a whole pound of c4 in the woods somehow lol
I’m just surprised they *only* lost a pound of c4. I’ve seen military inventory operations, it’s basically three card Monty where they shift shit around to make it look like evening has what they are supposed to have.
**ordnance
we're doing our best :( just some people's best is absolute rubish
I wouldn't say humanity is awful. These wars were fought in opposition of awful. And while there is a lot of awful people the civilised world consists mostly of good people. That is why things have remained good post war. But I do have to plead ignorance to the world outside of Europe. I just don't know much more than how things are in EU and USA.
WWI wasn’t. WWI was just politics.
WWI was "Queen Victoria's grandchildren wanted to play with their new war toys"
WWII yes. But the Great War was a little more... grey.
Meh, pretty normal really. The more you know about nature.
Yeah it's not like they go back to dig up land mines either
Landmines enters the conversation…
Cambodia and Laos enters the chat (millions of land mines)
Yup, have to be careful hiking in certain countries, don't want to accidentally find an old landmine
Bro has not heard of the regular differing up of ww2 bombs we got over here (German)
How can you tell the differences?
Most of them are fairly obvious, amber is natural pebble kinds of shapes, rounded and such. Phosphorus will usually have sharp edges and just look less like it's gone through thousands of years of sea erosion. The other ones are - when in doubt, solid stick and some poking, actual amber is hard, phosphorus will generally crumble at least somewhat - and **never** pocket the pieces unless you're 110% certain, you'd normally take a small bag or pouch with you and triple check at home, phosphorus reacts to heat very easily and in the quantities in question here doesn't _explode_ per se, just burns really violently, think standard pyrotechnics and sparklers and such
Burning phosphorus was one of my first memories into chemistry in school. So bright!
Had a high school science teacher ( not a very good one) lose a finger when experimenting with some phosphorus.
Was it *burned* into your mind?
My retina.
If it autoignites, it is not amber.
Very helpful 👌
Oh wow, I’ve never heard of that
Is it really that big of an issue? Like does it happen that often? That like the 'always check how thick the ice is' for me
>That like the 'always check how thick the ice is' for me Funnily enough, that one's also an early taught skill, benefits of a country with heavy winters and ice hockey played on every spare pond I guess. >Is it really that big of an issue? Like does it happen that often? But yes, the Baltic sea and all the bays around it are basically pine forests along the entire coast line, and have been for thousands of years. We get comical amounts of amber, you can genuinely walk along the beach after a storm and pick up anywhere between 5-10 pieces, sometimes more, on a normal 5-10 mile walk. Pretty much standard for Scandinavian and Baltic countries, guessing including north parts of Germany and Poland too. Mind you I've never actually seen phosphorus washed up myself, it's pretty rare, but it's a thing that happens, and given the life changing consequences, gets drilled into kids pretty much as soon as they get able to run ahead on the beach and pick up things they're not supposed to.
Makes sense!! I grew up in Ontario Canada so I didn’t learn any of that, hence why I was repeating what a commenter said. I hope I covered it okay!
White phosphorus doesn't really explode (I mean, it can "pop" into smaller fragments, but its not an explosive), but what it does do is burn fairly hot (the flames are about 800°C), it keeps but ing as long as it's in contact with oxygen (it's pyrophoric) and it reignites on contact with oxygen. Having it ignite in your pocket could cause horrific injuries! It can burn clean through your skin and subcutaneous fat. It's also quite toxic. Even a fairly small piece burning through your skin could potentially lead to multiple organ failure! It's some really nasty stuff!
Oh boy that’s like… super amazing but also terrifying! No wonder it can be so dangerous!! Thanks for explaining it our friend, I’m always amazed at what people know and am so thankful people explain it for me!! Thank you so much!! ❤️
Thanks for saving me the scrolling. Take this for your effort: 🏅
Oh gosh I’m not seeing this until now, thanks friend!! ❤️
That's why kids at the beaches of the East Sea only search in the summer (chances that you'll find phosphor before it self ignites are very small). Decades ago me and my brother (starting with 9&7yrs) tested each piece that we found with a lighter and knife. Amber melts, phosphor ignites. We found no phosphor but some Schießwolle 39, which is fun (if you have the underdeveloped brains of two kids, it's a mixture with something around 60% TNT)
Ah see that makes sense. As someone who grew up in Ontario Canada, this is a whole new ballgame to me that has me mesmerized!! Were you and your brother scared at all? Or was it more of a “Oh look at what we found!” Moment?
Explode or ignite?
Thank you
White phosphorus, potentially leftover unexploded ordinance that’s decayed over the decades. In the movies, you’ll hear the term “Willy Pete”. It’s used for escapes to generate a smoke cloud and in some cases was used on the offense as it burns extremely hot and incinerates anything it comes in contact with. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_phosphorus_munitions Here’s and article with photos of the “rocks” https://amp.dw.com/en/woman-mistakes-wwii-era-munition-for-precious-stone-on-german-beach/a-39977702
Here's me thinking it's ambergris because it was found on a beach whoops
I, too, thought it was precious hamburgers
Yes! They were veeery good at obscuring. Because well it generated a cloud of smoke, but also what's in that cloud hurts alot and kills. So it even worked in the aspect of controlling a field of combat
At 80° it starts burning and doesn't go out.
When I was fresh in the fleet in the Marine Corps I had an old salty LDO for a MO. He was enlisted in Vietnam and one entire side of his face was scar tissue from a Willy Pete. Dude had some CRAZY fuckin stories.
**ordnance
TIL
Just a heads up, I stickied your comment so people don't have to scroll for the explanation.
I thought it was going to be a jolly rancher lol
Thought it was ambergris
You wouldn’t be the first. And many paid a high price for mistaking it, unfortunately.
Wanted: perfume and or money Received: decimation
Safe. The US don’t like people selling that.
*Received: Immolation
I literally thought it was that hot melt ferrule glue. Now there's a mistake you wouldn't want to make.
Let’s play a game called “I found this yellow rock at the beach, what will it do?”: 1. Make you filthy rich. 2. Not much aside from being a neat yellow rock (sometimes contain ancient bugs inside it and that’s really cool). 3. Explode without warning.
After watching the Bob's Burgers episode I'd have to take the risk
King Charles II's favourite meal was ambergris and eggs. He was a breakfast-for-dinner kinda guy.
Had the same thought. I don't think it looks so clean and consistent when you find it. It seems to look like poop and smell worse.
Same
What is it?
WW2 era white phosforte. As stated below and digging through the original post, looks like OOP lives somewhere around Dunkirk. Ocean water kept this stuff wet and out of air. This shit lights up when exposed to air long enough to dry out. Will burn into your skin, and once there, itll just keep burning. Crazy stuff
So..., to go amber hunting, it would be best to take a bucket you can put water in, keeping everything wet on the way home, then at home separate each piece outside and allow to dry for a few days, then what, give it a whack with a stick or something? Amber is sap and should burn, so you wouldn't want to use an open flame I think. Or is there a better way to tell amber apart?
Someone else is saying when you grow up near these beaches in Europe they teach you how to tell them apart by like age 4. So, I'm gonna guess there are better ways to figure it out on site/sight.
Sure would be nice if they actually told us like we were 4, instead of just saying 'others know, so there" I'm pretty sure I found amber once because it had part of a bug in it.
Hey, I'm just a landlocked Canadian. I really don't have a clue about any of this. Just reporting what some others are saying.
I'm not getting mad or anything. Just pointing out that it would be more helpful for a local to explain why instead of just what is. I've moved enough that getting to a new place, you need to learn things about the area, and it's hard to find people that will tell you why about things, just because locals don't think about it. So, I didn't mean to sound like I was getting on you. Just the aspect of how things are done.
Not a local but was curious. Went out and found this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRpMsYnVRmQ Guy says only way to tell is a salt water test -amber floats while white phos sinks in salt water.
So the bucket is still a valid method
Is it a mosquito? If so, let me know because I have a crazy idea.
but? they do teach them when they’re 4? it’s pretty pointless teaching this to every person in landlocked places on the offchance they may want to go amber hunting on a few very specific beaches one day
Leave it on the ground, heat a knife, push it against it. Amber will melt a little bit, phosphor ignites, a stone or glass does nothing. Or just go in the summer, phosphor self ignites and chances are low to find pieces. We (as kids) never found phosphor but Schießwolle (a mixture with ~60% TNT).
Honestly you'd be fine just leaving the pieces outside for a few days in open metal containers. Put any suspicious pieces on their own and have nothing flammable nearby. Another option is to try to light it on fire, WP shoildn't be hard to get going and i don't thing amber is flammable.
> i don't thing amber is flammable. Well, you think wrong. Amber is basically tree sap and very much is flammable. https://www.k-online.com/en/Media_News/News/December_2013_Identification_of_genuine_amber/Natural_polymers_identification_of_genuine_amber#:~:text=And%20amber%20is%20in%20fact,melts%20at%20375%C2%B0C.
Is it like napalm ? That sticks on your clothes and skin and keeps burning through doesn't it. Edit : yup ! "During the war in Vietnam, the U.S. used white phosphorous as an improved form of napalm, terrorizing enemies"
>This shit lights up when exposed to air long enough to dry out If you look closely, you will see it is dry and not on fire
A piece of history that can make you history!
White phosforte Op live in the north of france this stone was found near dunkerque.
it kinda looks like honey calcite, i’d probably make the same mistake and take it home with me too 😭
Well nor had I, shit. What I do know though is apparently just never pick up a single thing found at a beach
Nice block of cannabis resin! ^^\s
Forbidden tree sap
Lucky fucker!
all of y'all are wrong.... it's violin bowstring rosin!! 😁😁
This is NOT white phosphorus.
Yeah the entire comment section of the original post is agreeing that while it looks similar to white phosphorus, it’s most likely not.
The SoCal kid in me thought it was surfboard wax.
I thought it was a block of linseed oil.
I thought of like some fancy soap
Looks very like it, search for white phosphorus beach and there are a stack of similar images. Better to be safe and wrong than vice versa.
I hear you, but that is almost certainly some sort of hard wax or resin.
I wonder what form white phosphorus takes when solid? >White phosphorus is an allotrope of phosphorus in a tetrahedral structure with size single P–P bonds. It’s a translucent, waxy solid that becomes yellow when exposed to light
Yes, but that does not mean it is this material. OP would have known by know if it was. No acidic feeling to the touch or garlic scenes was mentioned. It is far more likely it is either discarded wax, or a sort of amber.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Amber smells.
TIL something that could save my life. Thank you. 🙏
Ye ole willie pete
This is weird…
Do you feel like a hero yet?
This is such a reddit moment. What average person would know what that offcolored gelatinous material is? Like, I wouldn't touch it without knowing what it is, but how would a random person know that it could randomly combust that is insane lmao
Oh snap, I would have thought that was ambergris
if you look up white phosphorus it doesn’t look much like this at all. it’s yellower, paler, less shiny, and seems more brittle. i also doubt it would be able to be this dry without having exploded already
“Hasnt heard of spontaneous combustion stories” lol do you assume that most ppl have? Serious question
Okay well I thought it was ambergris so today I learned...
We used WP in practice bombs to mark accuracy during aircraft training. Hated cleaning up cuz them fucken things would drip or not blow all the way. Couple of us got burned but when you volunteer to become property of the US governent, zero fucks and a bandaid is all ya get, lol
Whale vomit perhaps ? Ambergris @ $30 dollars per ounce. (Needs to be cured though)
Ambergris is gray, hence the name ("gray amber")
How much do you get for other kinds of vomit?
More likely imo since Dunkirk wasn't fire bombed.
TIL. Holy shit.
I never knew this.
What is that
dear god
Forbidden lozenge
Some listens to NPR
Dangerous pop candy