Interesting. You know, the Mythbusters once found that the transistor from a battery radio and a little hot sauce could dissolve prison bars in just a few weeks time.
Jamie and Adam were competing to see who could break out of jail first using hot sauce. Adam tried pouring some around the prison bars and attaching an AC charge from a nearby light switch. He found that actually increased the bar's width.
Jamie, the handier one of the two, used the transistor from a battery radio (a item some well-behaved prisoners are aloud to have in prison) to do the same thing and he widdled his bars down to a toothpick in just a few weeks.