Newsgroups: rec.pyrotechnics
From: nelson@cs.rochester.edu (Randal Nelson)
Subject: Re: Protecting Ti...
Date: Wed, 20 May 1998 14:16:13 GMT

In article <3561166F.44D98919@ppen.spammers>,
Andy Krywonizka  <not.gonna.h@ppen.spammers> wrote:

>I don't think so. Thousands of chemists rely on the CRC Handbook to be
>accurate and up-to-date, and I seriously doubt it is incorrect. Other
>references tell me that magnesium reacts directly with nitrogen, but
>make no mention of it being able to burn in it. What is your source on
>this matter?

It's true that thousands of professionals use the CRC.
It's also true that it is full of typos, misprints, and some outright errors,
some glaringly obvious, some more subtle.
My copy is full of penciled corrections to some of the tables that I have
run across while using it for various purposes.
The main reason for this is that is it very difficult to proofread a document
with several million numbers in it, checking against independent sources.
Like any document, use it with a grain of salt and a lot of common sense,
and double check things that look questionable.

RN



--
  Randal Nelson			 716-275-8488	University of Rochester
		      nelson@cs.rochester.edu	Computer Science Department
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