Cob Pile
Crude oil CAN explode. Any liquid hydrocarbon can be made to explode.
Interesting, Mike. You wouldn't have a link or something on that, would you?
Certainly, crude oil by itself is incapable of detonation. It isn't an explosive. Crude oil isn't even particularly volatile unless heated.
Doesn't the stuff usually just burn? And doesn't it need to be heated to a minimum temperature to ignite? Don't hydrocarbons need to be mixed with oxygen within a specific range of ratios to burn explosively?
I guess I ought to look it up..'
It might matter if the liquid and its vapors were enclosed or otherwise concentrated. Reports from the scene are unclear as to whether oil was leaking before or after what some called an explosion.
"Any liquid hydrocarbon can be made to explode."
Well yeah, if there is a spark. A dynamite stick would do it.
There is a difference between detonation and explosively fast burning. Both events can result in what is commonly called an explosion.
Nitroglycerin and TNT detonate. No oxygen is needed for a chemical explosive to detonate.
Gasoline and oil do not detonate. They will burn, and then only in the presence of oxygen. To make them burn explosively, they must be vaporized and mixed with oxygen, then raised to the ignition temperature or ignited by a spark.
A true Diesel engine does not require a spark to keep running. The vaporized oil and air mixture is compressed, concentrating the kinetic energy of the molecules. This is observed as an increase in temperature in the mixture. When the ignition temperature is reached, the mixture burns explosively.
Because gasoline is more volatile, a mix of gasoline and air cannot be readily compressed enough to keep running without a spark or glow plug.
Natural gas, butane, propane, etc. behave about the same as evaporated gasoline fumes. Mix them with oxygen and release the mix through a nozzle and you have a gas burner for a stove or furnace, but you must ignite it with a spark or other flame. Confine the mixture in a room or concentrate it in a mineshaft, then give it a spark and you'll get an explosion.
I have no experience with how crude oil behaves, but I imagine it to be more like diesel oil than gasoline or natural gas. Perhaps the oil has natural gas dissolved in it, but wouldn't that be separated and liquefied or flared off before the crude went into the pipeline?
Can a bomb be made out of petroleum jelly?
"Can a bomb be made out of petroleum jelly?"
I can get off with KY jelly, same thing, right?
Regards
Guttermind
Just you and the KY, eh? For gosh sakes, CG, ladies and kids infrequently read these comments!
Just because you had to shut off your your beer fridge to save the world doesn't mean you need to drink it all before it gets warm. Put it outside for a while.
Puleeze, spare me the moralizing about ladies and kids. You introduced us to Mid-West Mary or whatever her name was
As for that insulting Fox article "..to store whatever Canadians eat besides doughnuts and poutine." I am outraged!! Mad as a Muslim, I am, I am!!
OK, guilty as charged. I had a full size 25 year old fridge in my rec room and yes, it was full of beer. However just two years ago, I bought a new full size fridge to replace it. So I am redeemed now. My old fridge was no worse than your Hummers, BTW.
What? Don't most rightwingers in the USA have a second fridge for beer? You're the Affluent Society, right?
Mad as a Muslim. I like the phrase.
It's a great line. I say we give CG his choice of a free 6-pak of Bud, Millers, Coors, nothing too expensive so we can keep him "mad as a Muslim".
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