Be safe out there.
intercst
God I am glad he seems okay.
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They are used to that, last time I threw out my oxygen tank…
Why do oxygen tanks explode? If punctured they release oxygen but you still need a source of ignition. If compressed they might burst like a pop bottle. But explosion not expected.
Oxygen does make other things more flammable but explosion seems unlikely.
But of course if you crush an oxygen tank next to a propane tank or gasoline can anything is possible. Accidental combination seems unlikely but deliberate planned event very possible.
Trash trucks can be carrying a lot of methane and related combustible gases in their contents. Squeezing separates gas from inert stuff. Explosively add oxygen, and I expect the tank shards or the truck’s metal blade doing the squeezing and would be EZ to get a spark.
Kaboom?
Makes sense to me.
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Yes, I suppose garbage fermentation does produce methane. So methane can accumulate in the trash. Then add oxygen. Explosion probably happened in the interior of the truck. Not when they were compressing the trash. Time delay implied.
In boot camp I went to fire fighting school and one of the things I’ll never forget was safety when using an OBA. An OBA is an Oxygen Breathing Apparatus (sp) that is strapped to ones chest and use during fire fighting. Our instructor warned us not to mix oxygen and oil products together. OK, big deal, on with the lecture.
So we are out in this field sitting in some bleachers and in the mean time the instructor had punched holes in one of the OBAs and dropped it into a pool of oil. We had already forgotten the warning when all of a sudden a huge blast occurred at the oil pit.
ImAGolfer (USCG '66-'70)
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Great instructor!, and an excellent story.
Oxygen can be a dangerous element!
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Wow! I better sell my Oxygen stock right now. . .
Oxygen is obtained by distillation of liquid air. Air Products and Linde are the big ones but there are others. Air Products just went through a proxy fight and lost. In addition to nitrogen, oxygen, acetylene, carbon dioxide and many more they also are the leading supplier of hydrogen for those hydrogen fueled vehicles people talk about. The proxy fight was over their investing too much in hydrogen and not minding their air separation business.
Routinely they sign with a major customer for oxygen or nitrogen and build a too large plant to supply their need at rock bottom prices. Then they sell to other customers in the area from that plant. Lots of cylinder business but also tanks of liquid gases like oxygen and nitrogen.
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In high school chemistry, our teacher took a Quaker Oats container coated in wax and filled it with hydrogen and oxygen in 2:1 ratio. She set it off with a spark coil. It made quite a bang.
Imagine what its like when your house gets filled with enough natural gas from a gas leak. A spark causes a thousand fold increase in pressure. Blows out the walls. A very big deal.
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My wife and kids were at a friends house, playing in the back yard when the house across the cul-de-sac blew up.
I didn’t think it was that big of a deal at first, then I went to get her car.
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The last place I worked before I retired made this catalyst that’s used in oil refining and olefin manufacturing, an aluminum alkyl compound.
If you opened the lid to the container, it burst into flames. And then if you doused it with water…
intercst
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If you doused it with water it became uncontrollably, insanely, dangerously gorgeous, like my second boyfriend.
I suspect that would be Ethyl Corporation before they changed their name to Albemarl.