Gilles Chanvillard’s demo

This piece of Indiana limestone (the type of stone used in the Empire State Building) was filled with thenardite by soaking it in a solution of sodium sulfate and drying it above 40˚C a few times. In this video, the stone is submerged in a solution of sodium sulfate saturated at room temperature. As the solution invades the pores of the stone, the thenardite dissolves and mirabilite precipitates, growing with a very high driving force. As a result, the stone is destroyed in the course of an hour.