If you've ever wondered what shooting a propane tank at night it looks like, you came to the right place. That explosion really lit up the desert! Posted on 02/13/2017 4:37:57 AM PST by w1n1
If you've ever wondered what shooting a propane tank at night it looks like, you came to the right place. That explosion really lit up the desert!
If shooting a 1-pound propane canister with a compound bow is impressive, shooting a 30 pound propane tank with a .50cal incendiary round during the day is awesome, and shooting a similar-sized propane tank at night must be out-of-this-world cool.
Please don't try this at home! Leave that sort of stuff to guys like Uncle Rob.
Watch the video to see just how impressive the resulting spectacle was.
When I was in my early to middle teens, I used to make my own gunpowder and put together things that went BOOOM - must have satisfied my long term needs for such way back when.
That's what I was thinking when I saw the fire burning.
Approximately what distance from the explosion was this filmed?
We used to blow up trash bags filled with the oxygen and acetylene from the cutting torch. Must admit, I scared myself and have stayed away from that stuff for over 40 years.
I’d amend that that to:
C3H8 + 5O2 -————> 4H20 + 3CO2 + ENERGY (as Plasma)
Plasma is the 4th physical state (physics).
I’d just add a tank of oxygen the next time. hehehe
With an open bridge line between the tanks.
EXCITEMENT! ensues.
probably best to tape a couple of lit road flares to the thing too. or use incendiary ammo instead of tracers.
“Dont try this at home.”
Sounds like a challenge to me.
Acetylene is close to nitroglycerin in the sense that it doesn’t need an excuse to blow up. Under certain conditions it does not need an oxidizer and will decompose in an ugly fashion.
That’s where the typical storage cylinder containing a powdered matrix and a solvent come in to play. The combination acts in a similar fashion as the dynamite components which stabilize nitroglycerin. This doesn’t make acetylene perfectly safe, as dropping a cylinder can start a reaction which results in a fire or even explosion hours later.
As to the temptation to place a premix with oxygen into any container, the mix has been known to detonate from mere exposure to bright light, or static electricity generated at the nozzle when filling a container. Good to hear you made it to adulthood.
And speaking of fire and all, why does it take almost a quart of charcoal lighter fluid to get a BBQ grill going but flick an almost smoked up cigarette out into the woods and the whole thing goes up?
The released propane is very cold, much more heavy than air, and flows along the ground. If it were rapidly dispersed into the surrounding air before ignition, would become much more interesting. See ‘thermobaric’.
Newspaper balled up underneath charcoal in a confined space (typically a metal can with no toxic coatings--open top and bottom) is sufficient and quick. How many bags are you trying to light with a liter of fluid???
I talked with a very experienced metal smith and sword maker, and he refused to work with propane as being too dangerous.
He said that other gases typically burn like what you would think, but propane tends to act like a gaseous Napalm, sticking to your skin while burning.
Actually it was a joke in a comedy club.
I have great thanks that God looked out for us dumb stupid kids, in spite of us.
Growing up on a farm we experimented with everything, ammonium nitrate & kerosene, we had an unlimited supply of fireworks, kegs of gunpowder, back then we could even get dynamite but that was only used for fishing in the river..........
One of the biggest explosions I experienced was merely from dumping a 5 gallon can of gas on a pile of brush on a side hill. It looked like Napalm going off as the wall of 8 ft high fire rolled down the hill. The gas had fully vaporized and then ignited. Luckily I was standing up hill when I ignited it by throwing a flaming rag wrapped around a stick. Scared the heck out of me.
One of the tricks we used to play on friends was to dump 4F black powder in the ashtrays where people would try to put out their cigarettes. The gunpowder looked like ashes. It would just flare up and scare the heck out of them.....and burn a little hair off their knuckles... no harm ever happened luckily.
I’m glad the pyro in me ended very young. Some of my old friends went on to be explosive technicians, working in the coal mines and highway construction. Me, I switched to a desk job.
It looks like someone tried to deep fry a frozen turkey.
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