[TheForge] Re:oxy/aced blow up.

[Paul Hewitt]

As i was getting my Explosives permit and learning blasting teqniquies from
one of my buddies, he set up a pretty cool demo.  He took a 5 US gal (20#)
tank full or propane since propane won't burn in high concentration.  Set a
few wraps of det cord or some form of rolled explosive I don't remember
which around the center seam of the tank, then proceeded to place a small
section of the same materialto a piece of plywood.  He wire the first cap to
the bottom and tied the wire under the board, then put a second wire above
the board to the center explosive.  I know the prinicpals of mixing gas so i
caught on pretty quick the rest of the class was like won't the fireball
melt the wires before you set the bottom off?

To finish the story, he touched off the center section which split the tank
perfectly in half, or so, sent the top flying and left the bottom intact.
The large propane cloud vaporized, and left some cold liquid in the bottom
evaporating.  He waited about 15 seconds you could still see the liquid
boiling off, then set off the second explosvive, which not only rocketed the
bottom of the tank sqy high spilling its burning liquid pronae but ignited
the huge cloud of propane in a slow rolling burn due to the lack of oxygen
and high concentrations of fuel.  None the less a 300' wall of flame almost
100' high was pretty awesome.

I however do also enjoy the smell of anything burning in the morning, the
bigger the fire, and the louder the BOOM the happier I am.  The local
newspaper under the Police log, often contains entry's that read "Mysterious
Explosions North Of Paridise Pt. Rd. . and East or Arizona St.

Hmm I wonder who that could be!


----- Original Message -----
From: <LrdThorolf@aol.com>
To: <theforge@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2003 5:20 PM
Subject: [TheForge] Re:oxy/aced blow up.


>    I have to disagree on the explosion of tanks and det cord.  Tanks make
a
> bigger explosion then 25 feet of det cord. Det cord burns at a rate of
35,000
> ft per sec. Coil of 25 feet of det cord might blow off an arm if it was
wrapped
> around and a knot tied in it. The blasting cap is what set det cord to
burn
> and a knot will cause an explosion.  now if you were to flip the cut tank
over
> and fill it with acetylene and have det cord running under it with a knot
you
> could probably send the bottle sailing pretty high upwards.
>
> I was a combat engineer in the military. we tried almost everything with
det
> cord.
>
> Ike Dewey
>
> But it is a dry heat.
>
>
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