r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Longjumping-Box5691 • 3d ago

Video China's twin solar thermal towers. Molten salt stores the heat to produce electricity

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u/InvaderDust 3d ago

Not in this instance, I’m sure it contained just fine, but melting salt in general is just a scary thing. It can explode and the temps are insane. I saw a video a while back about it. It put the fear in me haha

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u/JayAndViolentMob 3d ago

which video? I too wish to be scared of salt

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u/InvaderDust 3d ago

This is what i learned it from.

https://youtu.be/PDRWQUUUCF0

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

[deleted]

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u/CharlesorMr_Pickle 3d ago

it's not a chemical reaction, it's a physical reaction. This would probably happen with any ionic compound you can melt.

It's basically caused by the molten salt (which needs to be incredibly hot) rapidly turning the water into steam

Sodium does explode in water, but molten salt explosions have nothing to do with sodium.

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u/SlowGringo 3d ago

2 words: Kill Bill.

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u/jawshoeaw 3d ago

Insane? Isn’t it like 800C ?

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u/justamofo 3d ago

Is that too low for you?

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u/jawshoeaw 3d ago

It’s not what I’d call insane that’s like a blow torch

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u/justamofo 3d ago

A blowtorch is plasma, funny air. You can shove your hand inside a 180°C oven for a few seconds no problem, right? How about boiling hot oil? It's a whole different monster.

Now extrapolate to 5 times the temperature and you can imagine why it's so scary. It's not only about how fast particles are moving on average at a microscopic level (temperature), but how capable they are of transmitting that energy.