If you've wondered about the energy in an acetylene cyl. ???

Date 12-11-2008 03:29

Hello everyone, I ran across this photo when I was doing some cleaning at my work station and thought that some of you might appreciate it. It was taken by the brother of one of my past students during a training exercise for one of the fire departments in Mexico City a number of years ago. Sorry for the poor picture quality, it is a picture of a picture. They built a bonfire around a #3 acetylene cylinder and this was the result. Best regards, Allan

By jon20013 (*****)

Date 12-11-2008 07:57

Awesome example Allan, thanks for sharing!

By jrw159

Date 12-11-2008 13:28

Allan,
That sure brings it home. One can talk and talk, but when you see a pic or video, it sure tends to wake people up alot more. Thanks for that. I will be using it.

jrw159 :-)

By johnnyh (***)

Date 12-18-2008 00:40

Great idea, Allan. Where could one find a couple of these cylinders? The Bonfires around here have been small lately.

Seriously though, that's a great illustration of the danger those bottles pack.

By OBrien

Date 12-18-2008 01:49

WOW!!! I'm surprised the plugs didn't melt out before explosion. When I was in high school there was a fire at a shop in the next town and they had one melt the plugs and the guys on the fire department said it was scarry but that really gives me a new visual.

By rlitman (***)

Date 12-18-2008 19:40

Sure looks to me like the plugs melted as designed.
The "mushroom" of fire is a convection effect of the stream of acetylene released by the tank.
Makes for a huge fireball, and dramatic picture, but relatively benign release.

If that showed a real explosion, there would be much less fire, and MUCH more destruction. You can still see the wooden pallets stacked around the tank, for the bonfire. Had the tank exploded, they would be quite gone.