Mar 9, 2009: Melted Bricks
 

This old Russian fort, long abandoned, has vaulted red brick chambers typical of fortifications all over the world.
But these fortifications look like they have been frosted like a fancy cake.
http://cellar.org/2009/melting1.jpg

I wonder what temperature will melt red bricks that have been fired, laid up, and aged?
I'll bet it would have melted steel too.

http://cellar.org/2009/melting2.jpg

Maybe it got so hot it burned through the floor in those two spots.
Pretty safe to say, there were no creepy crawlers surviving that. :headshake

Bricks are clay. IIRC clay is tiny flakes of mica, sheets of silicate with a little other stuff. IIRC it should melt 1,000 - 1,200 degrees centigrade or so. Just guessin.

Amazing to see it.

From one brick maker;I think 1,000 C is too low to make them melt.

Please no kiddie piggyback rides.

The answer isn't temperature at all. It's explained in the first line of the post. (Snip) "This old Russian fart..." (snip)

Interesting. Should have been pretty hot. Most regular brick (non-firebrick) will withstand the heat and then turn to dust as it cools.

And inside they found the charred remains of three little pigs.

It made me shudder.
This was a weapon. This was designed to be used on people.

Grim.

Intersting IoTD of course.

Those pesky Ruskies, always looking for new and interesting ways to off people, usually their own.

I assumed they melted because there wasn't enough oxygen for them to burn.

Ah, I found another picture. This one looks like it wasn't the bricks that melted, but the mortar in between or some sort of coating on the inside of the vault/room. Maybe the pictures were captioned wrong? Not sure, though it would make more sense.:confused:
http://cellar.org/2009/melted3.jpg

Looks like the bricks melted to me..........

Beautiful and horrifying...These images get an A+.

Mortar isn't much more likely to melt. But some component of it could well be more soluble in water, so maybe this isn't the result of some secret Russian super-napalm but rather the long-term effect of exposure to the elements.

Runaway bar-b?
Actually a pretty hot subject, since Google returns 256 hits for "melted brick icicles."
The only culinary note is a New York Times article from Wednesday, December 4, 1872 that somehow morphs "melted brick wall" into "malted brook." Sounds good to me.

Actually, it's a breeding colony of the new species of mutant urban vampire bats that emerged after the Chernobyl disaster.