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Thermal lance
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A thermal lance or thermic lance or burning bar is a tool which burns iron in an oxygen rich environment (n.b., not thermite) to create very high temperatures for cutting. It consists of a long iron tube packed with iron rods, which are sometimes mixed with aluminum or magnesium rods which increase the heat output.
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Encyclopedia
A thermal lance or thermic lance or burning bar is a tool which burns iron in an oxygen rich environment (n.b., not thermite) to create very high temperatures for cutting. It consists of a long iron tube packed with iron rods, which are sometimes mixed with aluminum or magnesium rods which increase the heat output. One end of the tube is placed in a holder and oxygen is fed through the tube.
The far end of the tube is usually lit by an oxyacetylene torch. It can also be lit by an electric spark, in which case the tube is connected to one terminal of a battery and the other terminal is connected to a copper electrode. The end of the tube is then rubbed against the copper electrode to produce sparks, which ignite the lance.
An intense flame is produced at the lit end and can be used to rapidly cut through a variety of thick materials including steel and concrete. The tube is consumed, so every few minutes the operator shuts off the oxygen, discards the remaining stub of a lance tube, and starts using a new one.
Thermal lances burn at 7000 to 8000°F (3870 to 4420°C), hot enough to melt rocks.
Appearances in fiction
The thermal lance is used in popular entertainment media, including:
- In the film Thief, the main character (James Caan) meets with a scrapyard owner to discuss building a portable thermal lance, which is then used to open an exceptionally dense and secure safe.
- In the film $ (A.K.A. "Dollars" and "The Heist" ) the bank manager uses a thermal lance to release an employee who was locked into the bank vault.
- In the TV series Heist, the character Ricky uses a thermal lance to break into an armored truck.
- The Bank Job (2008) recreates a hushed-up robbery in London in 1971 where thieves tunnelled under a bank and used a thermal lance to break into the bank vault.
- CSI, first season, episode 16 entitled "Face Lift" as a means for opening a safe.
- Extensively used in the British TV series Ultimate Force, where the SAS troop would use them to burn through metal bars and concrete walls.
Popular depictions of thermal lances sometimes exaggerate their capabilities. In the movie, The Score, the character Nick Wells (played by Robert De Niro) uses a thermal lance to cut a hole in the top of a safe, to avoid the safe's glass relocker device.
The Water Safe episode of MythBusters tested the capabilities of the thermal lance, and discovered opening a modern safe with a thermal lance takes far longer than depicted in popular accounts. Additionally, the intense heat generated by the thermal lance destroyed the items inside the vault. The MythBusters concluded using a thermal lance for safe-cracking is plausible, but impractical. Nevertheless, describes thermal lances as a significant threat to vault doors.
Fictional uses with other meanings
The term "thermic lance" or "thermal lance" is occasionally used in science fiction to mean a type of ray gun.
In the videogame X-COM: Terror from the Deep, a "thermic lance" is a melee weapon using a very hot quickly rotating drill-like blade: see .
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