On a German board (gulli.de - that's sort of an online magazine with a big forum for all sorts of topics; basically one big "NWO" thread with over 14,000 posts that's mostly 9/11-related) Dirk Gerhardt aka Sitting Bull and another truther have been pushing the assertion that elemental aluminium, reacts strongly with water, in a reaction 2 Al + 3 H2O -> Al
2O
3 + 3 H
2 (+ heat), and that this may have happened when Millette washed the chips, and, after ashing, suspended the released pigments, in clean water, thereby turning elemental Al into oxide. Dirk's sidekick presented me with some data sheet on "phlegmatized" Al powder, which stated that the powder must be kept away from water as it might react vigorously and present an explosive hazard. This had me fooled for a day: I thought "phlegmatize" was basically the same as "passivated", which is "cover the metal with a thin layer of oxide so it can't oxidize any further on air".
I forgot to research the actual meaning of the word. Wikipedia told me:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlegmatized
It actually means that some reactive substance is protected right after, or even during, protection by covering it, or immersing it, in some material that keeps oxygen away, so it won't react. In the case of Al powder, linseed oil is often used; it very much slows down the passivation of the top layer of aluminium.
So Dirk was certainly wrong: After 8 years, even a phlegmatized Al-particle would have been passivated.
(He is further wrong because Millette found Al-silicate, not oxide, after washing. Silicate could npt form from the contact of elemental Al with water)