[TheForge] [OT] Pyro-boom (Re: Thanks for the info...)

Sat May 31 19:12:00 2003

I love the smell of napalm in the morning.

Bob Schade
_____________

>While O/A has an awesome power to exceed the sound barrier making small
>sonic booms, I am failed to be impressed by the percussive powers.  For a
>small experiment about 8 years ago, we made a "blast container"   I own a
>propane tank disposal buisness, so we are always coming by 1000 gallon tanks
>that are damaged or out of service that must be burned down.  We cut one to
>about 8 feet long, and buried the bottom 4' in the ground.  We then set up a
>20# (5 US GAL) propane tank with a 3/4 plug instead of a valve, and a
>detonator mounted in the plug.  We filed the tank with a perfect mixture
>then plugged it and placed it in the bottom of the tank, and set it off.
>Much to our dismay it went PING, and then proceeded to suck air back into
>the container as the burnt O/A takes up less space creating a vacuum and
>sucking the small wire back into the container from the detonator through
>the epoxy.   We devalve about 500 to 1000 tanks a day, and typically then
>cut holes in them.  The guys with torches usually pride themselves on the
>tanks that become "jet engines"  when a tank sits open long enough they get
>a perfect mixture and then will burn inside the tanks emitting the hot
>exhaust gasses out the hole that's been cut.  After about a 2 to 3 second
>interval they burn out, but do not explode the tank.
>
>After the first dismal failure at turning a tank into shrap inside the blast
>container, we decided to see exactly what it would take.  and open top tank
>was filled with O/A and touched off without a plug, still no shrap, just a
>ping and a whoosh as the air returned into the vacuum of the container.
>The guys finally settled on black powder.  Lets just say at about 500 grams
>they finally succeeded in splitting a tank at the weld line.
>
>Aceyt will not burn back into the tank the regulator is a one way out valve
>even high back pressure will result in nothing more than the regulator will
>back bleed the pressure due to the set imbalance of the spring.  This can
>result in a fire.  Because Aceyt will rapidly decompose without oxygen, it
>is possible to create a section of hose that will explode, although its not
>nearly as spectacular as if it has an good oxygen mixture.  Forcing O2 back
>into the hose will not mix the gas correctly, but will result in a high
>pressure forcing the Aceyt to "mechanically decompose"  the Aceyt chemical
>structure is really quite unstable as we already know and will split into
>smaller less flammable chains of hydrocarbons.
>
>As for some jokes with a sack full in the back of the truck that's a damn
>good way to get a head full of glass, I can just imagine tempered window
>squares flying at 24000
>FPS...................................................
>
>I heave read article in the paper where some idiots where carrying about 30
>balloons inside a minivan, rolling around on the carpet, of course one going
>off will set them all off, the windows were all blown out of the van, and
>both idiots lost their hearing... Geeze I wonder why?
>
>They had been stuffing them in mail boxes, with pull type firecrackers
>attached.  Luckily no one opened any of the mailboxes before authorities got
>to them.  By the time the van exploded they had placed 70 some balloons in
>mailboxes.  Can anyone imagine a Ford Aerostar full of O/A balloons going
>up????  At least a hundred?  I mean I know what 50 can
>do.......................
>
>
>
>
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Blacksmith" <[email protected]>
>To: <[email protected]>
>Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2003 6:42 AM
>Subject: Re: [TheForge] [OT] Pyro-boom (Re: Thanks for the info...)
>
>
>>     A couple of years ago 2 guys in Toledo were going somewhere with a
>> garbage bag
>> of oxy/act in the back of the pickup truck. I don't think their
>> intententions were ever
>> discovered. In any event they never made it to wherever they were going
>> before the
>> bag exploded. Darn near destroyed the truck. They escaped with their lives
>> fortunately.
>>
>> Bob Willman
>> The Eagle's Anvil
>> Bowling Green, Ohio
>> WB8NQW
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Mike Spencer" <[email protected]>
>> To: <[email protected]>
>> Sent: Friday, May 30, 2003 23:46
>> Subject: [TheForge] [OT] Pyro-boom (Re: Thanks for the info...)
>>
>>
>> >
>> > Pyro Boy quoth:
>> >
>> > > Imagine a 150' long piece of 5 mil anitstatic plastic bag roll (we
>> > > make smaller bags from the large roll of tube with a heat sealer) Then
>> > > imagine some idiot and all his buddies, and 3 full 235 CF sets of
>> > > oxy/acet tanks, and a mixing valve preset to the perfect
>> > > mix...........
>> >
>> > Um, have you *done* this?  Why didn' I hear?
>> >
>> > "Antistatic plastic", eh?
>> >
>> > I once touched off a small party balloon full of no particular ratio
>> > of oxy/acet with a 4' piece of rod heated one end.  Exceeded
>> > expectations by an order of magnitude.  Rattled distant
>> > windows. Deafened me for awhile.  Before trying a second one, I got to
>> > thinking about static electricity.  Hmm....  I have 9.8 fingers,
>> > decided to keep it that way.
>> >
>> > Is there a way to guarantee that a party baloon will remain
>> > static-free for a predictable period of time?
>> >
>> > I've also thought, in my more irritated moments, that a clear trash
>> > bag, filled with oxy/acet, with a peeled flash bulb inside, hung high
>> > in the old apple tree by the road and connected to the house with some
>> > lamp cord would offer a remarkable surprise to the deer jackers who,
>> > in the dark of an autumn night, check the tree for deer nibbling the
>> > drops.  And then I thought, "Do I need deaf, blind, frightened, armed
>> > drunks staggering around in my pasture?"
>> >
>> > - Mike
>> >
>> > --
>> > Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada
>> >
>> > [email protected]
>> > http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
>> > theforge mail list group photo site is
>> > http://www.photoaccess.com
>> > Login:  [email protected]
>> > password:  anvil
>> > ___________
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
>> theforge mail list group photo site is
>> http://www.photoaccess.com
>> Login:  [email protected]
>> password:  anvil
>> ___________
>>
>>
>>
>
>_______________________________________________
>http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
>theforge mail list group photo site is
>http://www.photoaccess.com
>Login:  [email protected]
>password:  anvil
>___________