Burning a Magnesium NeXT Cube (1993)

Summary

Date: Wed, 24 Mar 93 19:11:02 EST From: simsong To: druby Subject: cube burning Cc: edit To: Dan Ruby, Editor, NeXTWORLD Magazine From: Simson L. Garfinkel, Senior Editor, NeXTWORLD Magazine Subject: NeXTCube Serial Number AA001032 Date: March 16, 1993 Dear Dan, I am writing this memo to explain what happened to the case our NeXTCube Computer, Serial Number AA001032. As you know, years ago, when NeXT first contemplated making computers, Steve Jobs decided that machines should be in the shape of a cube, and that they should be built from cast magnesium. Although magnesium is a relatively expensive metal, it is remarkably strong and lightweight. No doubt, this let NeXT save on shipping expenses, although the added handling and manufacturing costs was one of the factors which led to the cube's high cost. At the time that NeXT brought their system to market, the only other company to incorporate a magnesium case was Grid, which was making a portable computer. (I am told that Apple also uses magnesium for the inside case of its Duo computers, but I haven't been able to verify this fact.) As a former chemist, I was attracted to the NeXT's magnesium case for a different reason: magnesium burns with a brilliant white flame. When I was in high school, I used to steal magnesium metal from the chemistry lab and set it on fire in my backyard. A two-inch long strip would burn for nearly a minute, the white-hot flame slowly turning the shiny grey metal into a plume of white smoke (magnesium oxide --- a harmless material which is the main ingredient in milk of magnesia.) When NeXT announced that the first NeXT Cube was made of cast magnesium, I am sure that I was not the only person who imagined what fun could be had by setting it ablaze. Of course, at more than seven thousand dollars each, I doubted that anybody would ever actually carry out the experiment. Anyway, during the fall of 1991, I interviewed Rich Page, NeXT's then vice-president for hardware, for an article which we l...