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From: jbs@mit-eddie.UUCP (Jeff Siegal)
Newsgroups: net.columbia,net.astro.expert
Subject: Re: Whats small, green & deadly?
Message-ID: <23@mit-eddie.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 1-Feb-86 17:47:04 EST
Article-I.D.: mit-eddi.23
Posted: Sat Feb  1 17:47:04 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 3-Feb-86 04:41:35 EST
References: <287@ucbjade.BERKELEY.EDU>
Reply-To: jbs@mit-eddie.UUCP (Jeff Siegal)
Organization: MIT, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 21
Xref: watmath net.columbia:1942 net.astro.expert:203

In article <287@ucbjade.BERKELEY.EDU> michael@ucbiris.BERKELEY.EDU (Tom Slone [(415)486-5954]) writes:
>I don't know, but a NASA spokesperson told people not to beachcomb for
>Challenger debris because they might discover "a small green object which would
>kill them 1 or 2 seconds after touching it."  What could this be?

Source: _New York Times_ (Thursday or Friday of this week)

The fuel used by the shuttle to adjust it's position in orbit, and to
slow down for re-entry is monohydrazine (sp?) mixed with nitrogen
tetraoxide.  When mixed, these substances react violently without any
need for ignition.  Hydrazine is an extremely explosive substance.  NO4
is a deadly poison, and also an extremely dangerous oxydizer.  According
to the article, even a small amount of this stuff can burn a large
quantity of skin/flesh.

You guessed it...both these are stored abord the shuttle in green drums,
which may have ruptured during the explosion.  NASA experts were quoted
as saying that pieces of these drums, even after being washed by the
Atlantic Ocean, would be dangerous if touched.

Jeff Siegal