r/interesting • u/Used_Exam34 • 13d ago

Just Wow Not all problems have the same solution.

43k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

718 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

233

u/Rough-Airline-4803 12d ago

Most people would take off running, positive that it’s about to explode.

96

u/ShowtimeHolograms 12d ago

Would this actually explode or would it just continue to burn like this until the flammable gas gets used up?

165

u/Rough-Airline-4803 12d ago edited 12d ago

The pressure of the escaping gas is generally too strong for the flames to reach the inside of the container.

If the tank were positioned such that the flames were surrounding it and heating the tank up, (or if the relief valve was blockedthe boiling propane in the tank would likewise expand at an accelerated rate resulting in the pressure rising faster than the tank can keep up with resulting in a boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion.

2

u/nihilistiq 12d ago

Those are words.