Train rails are joined together via a seriously awesome process called exothermic welding, which basically involves lighting off a chemical called Thermite and sending molten iron into a sand mould.

There probably aren’t many people out there who aren’t aware of what thermite is and how it demonstrates the power of runaway exothermic reactions. Practical applications that don&#8217… ...

This article was originally published with the title “ Welding a Fourteen-inch Shaft by the Thermite Process ” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 105 No. 21 (November 1911), p. 455 doi:10. ...

The thermite burns at around 3,000 degrees Celsius (5,432 degrees Fahrenheit) and melts the wellbore components with the surrounding rock, by creating “artificial magma,” like in volcanoes.