CA environmentalist: Mandate could force gas stations out of business

[Regolith]

Did some googling.  Ignition temperature of gasoline is around 500 deg F.  The temperature at the end of a lit cigarette is ~750 degrees F, more than enough to ignite gasoline.


http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2003/ShaniChristopher.shtml
http://www.physlink.com/education/askexperts/ae1.cfm


No Mythbusters needed for this one.

[Boomhauer]

Where there's smoke there's...
 
We've had them in St. Louis for about 15 or so years...
 
Seem to work.
 

 

The ridiculous emissions control things?

Seen them in pics, never fueled from one.

CARB needs to be told to shove it...

[41magsnub]

Maybe not fair, gal smoking is caught on fire at gas station pumping gas.  She had both static and the cancer stick working against her:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRVVrGZLsz8

Boy caught on fire by brother smoking a cigarette at gas station:
http://www.nwcn.com/statenews/idaho/stories/NW_021807IDNgasstationfireSW.122e43af.html

[Manedwolf]

I've seen cigarette butts ignite dry vegetation.  I don't think they'd have a problem igniting gasoline.

How about tracers?

I know tracers will ignite dry vegetation...

*whistles, wanders*...

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Gasoline has some peculiar ignition properties.  Like many volatile liquids, the liquid itself isn't combustible, it's actually the vapors that ignite.  And even then, the vapors are only flammable when mixed with oxygen in the right proportions.

I bet you could fire a tracer straight through a can of gasoline without igniting it, or drop a lit cigarette into one.  So long as the can is sealed, the vapors would probably be too concentrated to ignite.

[De Selby]

Gasoline has some peculiar ignition properties.  Like many volatile liquids, the liquid itself isn't combustible, it's actually the vapors that ignite.  And even then, the vapors are only flammable when mixed with oxygen in the right proportions.

I bet you could fire a tracer straight through a can of gasoline without igniting it, or drop a lit cigarette into one.  So long as the can is sealed, the vapors would probably be too concentrated to ignite.

If the can doesn't explode, which I would bet on it doing, what will happen when you open to see that nothing happened?

The concentration seems to matter more for explosive potential with gasoline.  Sort of like how you can light natural gas on fire and it burns smoothly to cook your meals, but if it builds up to the right gas/air mix and then gets lit....kaboom. 

Either way the gasoline is going to burn (assuming any oxygen available at all), it's just that the vapours may explode.

[Bogie]

It isn't a good Knob Creek, unless the hill catches on fire at one time or another. The -best- one was when they actually had to call the fire department.
 
And they go through a LOT of gasoline there too...

[zahc]

I bet you could fire a tracer straight through a can of gasoline without igniting it, or drop a lit cigarette into one.  So long as the can is sealed, the vapors would probably be too concentrated to ignite.

I've personally dropped a lit cigarette into a pan of gasoline. The cigarette goes out. Same for diesel. I also once poured at least a gallon of gasoline down a yellow-jacket nest in the ground. It wouldn't light. About the only thing that happened is the vapors wafting out of the opening would light on fire, and then usually go out from the breeze. I still think it killed the yellow jackets though.

[Nitrogen]

Right.  Gasoline needs oxygen to combust.  When you're pumping gas, you're not swimming around in gasoline; you're breathing in Nitrogen (heh), oxygen, and fuel vapors.  If you're unlucky, and possibly spill a bit of fuel, and the vapor gets into the air, FWOOM!

[RocketMan]

How about tracers?

I know tracers will ignite dry vegetation...

*whistles, wanders*...

So will 81mm mortars.  Chuckle, chuckle, sob...

[RocketMan]

If the can doesn't explode, which I would bet on it doing, what will happen when you open to see that nothing happened?

If the tracer passes through liquid gasoline, nothing happens, as there is no oxygen present.
If the tracer passes through gasoline vapor above the liqiud in the tank, probably nothing will happen, as the oxygen content is likely too low.  YMMV for various reasons.
If you open the can after the tracer passes through to see what is happening inside, again nothing will happen*, because the source of ignition is long gone.

* Except you might get a little gas leaking out of the can onto your shoes.  Watch out for those vapors if you are smoking.

Mythbusters had fun with this one already.

ETA:  Gasoline vapor - Lower Explosive Limit = 1.2%,  Upper Explosive Limit = 7.1%.  That is a pretty narrow range.

[Desertdog]

ETA:  Gasoline vapor - Lower Explosive Limit = 1.2%,  Upper Explosive Limit = 7.1%.  That is a pretty narrow range.

Otherwise, Below 1.25% = no flame, above 7.15% = no flame.  That is only two of the three legs for combustion.  The third leg is HEAT.

Oxygen in the right amount, fuel in the right concentration, and high enough heat, you will have anything from a fire to a disasterous explosion.

[Manedwolf]

So will 81mm mortars.  Chuckle, chuckle, sob...

Tracers, though, go there on purpose. You can be firing down a dirt range, with a wide area of sand, and a tracer will still bounce off the target and go off into the brush, and then there will be a whole lot of smoke a second later and you have to yell for a cease fire and run down the range with a shovel and all... 

I think the stupidest one was when a 9mm tracer set the target on fire, though. I'm still not sure how it did that. Shoot the target, and it's on fire a few seconds later, burning bits drifting around it. I hadn't thought it would be in contact long enough...