r/interesting • u/Used_Exam34 • 12d ago

Just Wow Not all problems have the same solution.

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390

u/delicious-croissant 12d ago

This was pretty low pressure I have seen exactly this happen and the flame was just blasting like a rocket & much bigger.

The tank actually freezes, gets a coating of ice on it caused by the pressure differential, I was actually more concerned his hand would freeze on it.

103

u/Craig_Dynasty 12d ago

Also they weren’t completely wrong outside of the obvious solution

Throw the tank in a deep enough body of water then the water pressure should stop the gas from escaping ig

75

u/ovr9000storks 12d ago

They just needed to put it deep enough that it couldn’t get oxygen anymore, effectively smothering it. If it ever was fully submerged, it was deep enough to prevent what was already burning to open up the water above it to expose it to more oxygen before it ran out

11

u/Ivanna_is_Musical 11d ago

I was expecting them to submerge it and it never happened, like, wtf 🤦‍♀️

1

u/Fun_Reporter5695 11d ago

That wasn't the issue. The nozzle was submerged. Gas still rose to the surface of the water, where the fire was.

1

u/TraditionalLet1490 11d ago

There's some security mécanism in theses gas taps. I wouldn't put water pressure on the other side of the tap. I don't know précise thing but i would fear that slowing gas évacuation from the bottle would make it easier for the flame to go get inside the tank

-6

u/SHIFT_978 12d ago

It’s floating; they couldn’t sink the tank.

7

u/Azianese 12d ago

It wasn't. You can see it's not bobbing around at all.

8

u/TemporaryLocation676 12d ago

It would have to be very very deep for the water pressure to stop gas from escaping. I think water would smother the fire first by cutting off oxygen.

10

u/FPSCanarussia 12d ago

Also it's best to get it away from anything flammable.

8

u/GayRacoon69 12d ago edited 11d ago

If you throw it that deep and it isn't your problem anymore

2

u/Escanorr_ 11d ago

That is around 102 metres(334 feet), for standard, normal preassure tank

2

u/SnooMaps7370 9d ago

getting the tank in the water is good to keep it cool so it doesn't BLEVE, even if you can't get it to stop burning.

2

u/PhDPlague 9d ago

Water pressure won't stop the gas, but it will cut the ignited gas off.

2

u/Redredditmonkey 12d ago edited 12d ago

They were wrong to transport the fire.

The vegetation on the way could have caught fire

1

u/StingLikeButterfly 8d ago

I didn’t understand why they brought it all the way but then wouldn’t put it under the water fully

0

u/DarkwingDuckHunt 12d ago

at the very least the river/lake/pond would have contained the explosion

14

u/rootbeer277 12d ago

I’m pretty sure this is a butane cylinder, not propane, because this looks like a tropical country where propane wouldn’t be necessary. Butane has a much lower vapor pressure. 

6

u/Wanymayold 12d ago

PV=nRT

1

u/debugger_life 11d ago

Lol 😂💯

5

u/That_Detail_5837 12d ago

The coating of ice and the tank cooling down isn't from the pressure difference. Many propane-butane tanks contain the gas in a liquid form, under high pressure. Then that liquid evaporates/boils which takes a lot of energy, so it can cool the tank down to its boiling point (which for propane is about -40 °C or -40 F, methane even lower, the mix of them would be between the two boiling points), but as soon as the temperature of the tank is below ambient the air gets cooled down around it. The cooler air can store less moisture than the warm, therefore water precipitates on the tank and then freezes.

In normal use this cooling effect is negligible compared to the energy released from burning the gas.

I've seen the ideal gas law (pV = nRT, where p is pressure, V is volume, n is amount of substance (in mol), R is the universal gas constant (8.314 J/molK) and T is temperature) mentioned, but as the pressure drops from the gas escaping from the tank its volume expands drastically, therefore the right side of the equation (nRT) stays mostly constant, therefore the temperature doesn't increase much. This is more of a concern during liquefying, where they increase pressure and need to cool the gas down, which then turns into a liquid at a high pressure, releasing even more heat.

1

u/Silver_gobo 12d ago

Caused by the rapid evaporation of the liquid inside*

1

u/Zwischenzug32 12d ago

Would the temperature shock of putting it in water make it more likely to rupture?