I don’t doubt your expertise and knowledge on the subject, but from veritasium videos on this I would have thought that putting it in a medium size clay flower pot (the ones with a hole at the bottom) and placing it on the car engine hood, it would probably not be a nice outcome for the car. Not total it, but it’s not driving away anyway. A can of gasoline is less logistically complicated (just one item, way easier to ignite) but it’s also bigger to carry around.
I’m just a person who watched too much youtube videos though.
Really though, thermite will mess up a car (quite a bit less than you’d expect from how spectacular it is) but keep in mind that while you’re standing around trying to ignite that magnesium strip, there’s a bunch of ICE officers who don’t want their car burned up. Dumping a jar of gas in the rain gutter and tossing in a lighter takes way less time (and will probably have a much larger effect) than thermite, and nobody can just knock it off the car while it’s burning. Plus it’s much easier to have a plausible excuse for owning a jar of gasoline than it is bags of powdered aluminum.
You’re not wrong that it would work, it’s just not going to work as well as the alternatives.
I don’t doubt your expertise and knowledge on the subject, but from veritasium videos on this I would have thought that putting it in a medium size clay flower pot (the ones with a hole at the bottom) and placing it on the car engine hood, it would probably not be a nice outcome for the car. Not total it, but it’s not driving away anyway. A can of gasoline is less logistically complicated (just one item, way easier to ignite) but it’s also bigger to carry around.
I’m just a person who watched too much youtube videos though.
… Just put the gasoline in a smaller container.
Really though, thermite will mess up a car (quite a bit less than you’d expect from how spectacular it is) but keep in mind that while you’re standing around trying to ignite that magnesium strip, there’s a bunch of ICE officers who don’t want their car burned up. Dumping a jar of gas in the rain gutter and tossing in a lighter takes way less time (and will probably have a much larger effect) than thermite, and nobody can just knock it off the car while it’s burning. Plus it’s much easier to have a plausible excuse for owning a jar of gasoline than it is bags of powdered aluminum.
You’re not wrong that it would work, it’s just not going to work as well as the alternatives.