Re: fuel tank

[Regan Dale Copple <copple@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Mark,

On Wed, 25 Nov 1998, Mark Lloyd at Mark_Lloyd@domain.elided wrote:

> then what is in the tank?
 
>> "...use up the gas in the tank, and then weld on it and it will
>> still not explode because there's no OXYGEN in the tank to explode."

	Fuel vapors, but they still won't combust, all the oxygen that was
in the empty tank was forced out by filling the tank.  If you empty the
tank by running the car, WITHOUT VENTING THE TANK TO THE OUTSIDE, then
what little oxygen is in the tank will not be enough to sustain any sort
of combustion.  Haven't you ever seen those movies where the bad guys turn
on the gas in the stove and throw a lit cigarette on the floor, so then at
some later time the good guys come along, open the door, and BA-BOOM,
because all that gas just mixed with enough oxygen to sustain combustion.
Take it from a guy who used to work in the grain elevators of Nebraska
every summer when he was a kid, was a jet engine mechanic in the Marines
for six years, and has taken chemistry and thermodynamics as an
engineering major, I think I know enough about the kinetics of combustion
to speak authoritatively on the subject.  Take care and Happy
Thanksgiving!!

						Typing with five fingers,
						Regan Copple
						79 Spider-black
				(coming soon)-->72 Montreal-silver
						73 Montreal-black

"It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness."
					-Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy

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