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PhilipL comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 26, chapter 97 - Less Wrong Discussion

5 Post author: palladias 15 August 2013 02:18AM

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Comment author: TrE 15 August 2013 10:16:36AM *  13 points [-]

And bear in mind that sulfuric acid is only one possibility among several!

Liquid oxygen, which is also pretty easy to produce or acquire, expands quite a bit when it evaporates, and rapidly oxidizes all of your pretty organic chemistry. If you could ship enough liquid oxygen (transfigured into something else) inside a human, they would burn and explode when the transfiguration wears off.

Botulinum toxin was also mentioned in the fic and is the weapon of choice for DIY genocide.

Pyrophoric substances, transfigured and then finely ground, will start burning in an oxygen-containing atmosphere.

Obtain nuclear weapons material (the hard part) and transfigure several subcritical pieces into iron, assemble them to give one large ball, drop it (or bury it underground), and run.

Certainly not all of these are practical, but all of them sound awesome.

Comment author: [deleted] 15 August 2013 08:43:15PM 5 points [-]
Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 19 August 2013 03:01:41AM 4 points [-]

It's been done, in Dungeon Keeper Ami.

Comment author: somervta 16 August 2013 01:34:27AM 4 points [-]

I'd like to think that Harry isn't crazy enough to play with ClF3.

Comment author: Fermatastheorem 16 August 2013 05:07:27AM 7 points [-]

(...but we know he is.)