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Main things that seem to
distinguish and define Greek

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fire from other incendiaries
are it burned on water possibly

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being ignited by water it was a
liquid substance not a

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projectile it was sticky and
would stick to you it was hard

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to extinguish and possibly it
was accompanied by thunder and

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much smoke it's a little fluent
test and see if this is

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flammable now that is flamble
another ingredient that many

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have theorized as being
included is quick line but

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there are a lot of theories of
what Greek fire could be and

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one more prominent ones is that
it was self igniting when put

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on water. So the chief
ingredients for making actual

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self igniting is quick lime
which is made from limestone

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that's been roasted. This stuff
is famous for reacting

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violently with water and a very
exothermic reaction where it

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can produce a lot of heat.

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6050, Karina 70 here 80, so
that's not very helpful I think

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I think the water is almost
instantly cooling it back down

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I'm not sure how it can make
this work there are a few

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chemicals that do ignite at
that temperature least in my

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estimate the most theoretically
achievable at that time period

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is ether can be made by
reacting and distilling two

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chemicals in theory available
to biothinting Greeks ethanol

23
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and sulfuric acid a roughly 2-1
ratio of ethanol cyber acid

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just needs to be mixed together
and then to around 140 to 150

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degrees Celsius it will auto
ignite at a temperature around

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160 degrees Celsius which is in
within the range of the maximum

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temperature quick line will
react with water this leaves us

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with a decent list of
ingredients that may have

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theoretically been used now to
mix up some concoctions and

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actually put them to the test
first up we went for a straight

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crew petroleum Surprisingly,
this stuff did not want to burn

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even with a direct flame
applied. So, the type of stuff

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was slightly flammable. That's
like not as flammable as you

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would expect. Soy oil does not
work. Second, another control

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is distilled ethanol alone. We
know this works in your classic

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molten cocktail but with the
elements of water, it clearly

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became a lot less effective and
very far from the descriptions

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of Greek fire. Whoa, Then next
is the California petroleum

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that I distilled out of a
lighter oil. This is in theory

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what is closest to the oil
fields the Byzantine would have

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collected from historically and
based on a discussion with John

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Heldon probably going to be the
most effective result. The

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second attempt is very
effective. The only other

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ingredient John Heldon
suggested that could have been

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added was pine resin. So we'll
try that mix next. Ooh. The end

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result was pretty similar with
the resin potentially

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diminishing just how much it
could actually spread. Then

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lastly, the attempt at a
self-igniting recipe using

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quick lime and ether. On
impact, you can hear the

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cracking as a quick lime reacts
with water to produce heat but

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it never achieved enough heat
to self ignite. For the most

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part, I think we can confirm
what John Heldon told me,

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lighter petroleum oil was
likely the main ingredient of

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Greek fire, if not the only
ingredient. I