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Can you ignite a gas container with a lit cigarette?
Yes, I believe its possible. 9 (47.4%)
No, it's impossible 9 (47.4%)
Yes, I know for a fact that it's possible because I've done it! 1 (5.3%)
Total Votes: 19
Cigarettes and gasoline
Topic Started: Feb 2 2012, 01:40 PM (1,078 Views)
Spock
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Live Long and Prosper.

I'm just curious, how many of you think that you cannot ignite a container of gasoline with a lit cigarette and how many of you believe that it's possible? How many of you have ever tried?


EDIT:

Please, for heaven's sake, don't go out and try to light a container of gas with a lit cigarette just for this thread!
Edited by Spock, Feb 2 2012, 01:49 PM.
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Coche Blanco
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I don't smoke and have only held a cigarette one or two times, but I know gasoline is surprisingly hard to light.
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Murf 59
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I tried this years ago. The cig goes out. Its the fumes that burn, not the liquid. I really was not very bright when I was much younger. Like was mentioned above. Please don't try this.
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KY Metro
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Coche Blanco
Feb 2 2012, 01:41 PM
I don't smoke and have only held a cigarette one or two times, but I know gasoline is surprisingly hard to light.
Uhh... :hmm Gasoline vapors are suprisingly easy to light. That's why they tell you "NO SMOKING" at gas stations. Although a cigarette is not a good way to light anything (sorry Clint Eastwood) it is still dangerous.

Methinks CB tried lighting it on a cold day when it wasn't vaporized very well. Liquid doesn't burn. Vapors do.
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Memphis metro


Dont play with gasoline!
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dayle1960
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Fastest Hampster EVER

Smoke 'em if you got 'em.
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BillHoo
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I saw this on Mr. Science once.

Get a paint can with a hole poked in the bottom and put in 4 drops of gasoline. Seal the top and shake around a bit to get it to vaporize.

Put a lit cigarette or smoldering wick in the hole and prepare to watch the top get blasted off!

We did something similar with Shasta cans, tennis balls and lighter fluid as kids - The ol tennis ball cannon. Older kids thought we were crazy. They told us they used ammonia as the propellant.
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Murf 59
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blue rhino
Feb 2 2012, 02:02 PM
Dont play with gasoline!
:gp
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nerys
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Grr

The answer is more complicated than your poll selections.

YES a cigarette can ignite a pail of gasoline. NO it in all likelyhood will not do so (for many of the reasons some have already posted)

its all about the vapors baby.

if you have the right mix of gas vapors and O2. watch out.

if you toss a cig in a pail of gasoline most likely it will just hit the gas and be put out.

this is because its pretty hard to get the "right" gas vapor above the gasoline to ignite from the cig.

but IF IT DOES have the right mixture the explosive force of that vapor going up is VERY likely going to atomize more of the gas in the pail which will enhance the burn and it will cascade from their till you have a nice fireball ending your existence as you know it.

Likely? No. possible ? yes. Life Terminating if it happens? You betcha :-)
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Coche Blanco
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KY Metro
Feb 2 2012, 01:50 PM
Coche Blanco
Feb 2 2012, 01:41 PM
I don't smoke and have only held a cigarette one or two times, but I know gasoline is surprisingly hard to light.
Uhh... :hmm Gasoline vapors are suprisingly easy to light. That's why they tell you "NO SMOKING" at gas stations. Although a cigarette is not a good way to light anything (sorry Clint Eastwood) it is still dangerous.

Methinks CB tried lighting it on a cold day when it wasn't vaporized very well. Liquid doesn't burn. Vapors do.
Vapors yes extremely easy.
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Spock
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Live Long and Prosper.

nerys
Feb 2 2012, 03:05 PM
The answer is more complicated than your poll selections.

YES a cigarette can ignite a pail of gasoline. NO it in all likelyhood will not do so (for many of the reasons some have already posted)

its all about the vapors baby.

if you have the right mix of gas vapors and O2. watch out.

if you toss a cig in a pail of gasoline most likely it will just hit the gas and be put out.

this is because its pretty hard to get the "right" gas vapor above the gasoline to ignite from the cig.

but IF IT DOES have the right mixture the explosive force of that vapor going up is VERY likely going to atomize more of the gas in the pail which will enhance the burn and it will cascade from their till you have a nice fireball ending your existence as you know it.

Likely? No. possible ? yes. Life Terminating if it happens? You betcha :-)
I really don't understand why you think it's complicated, but other than that you pretty much hit the nail on the head of the point I was trying to make.

See, back in the day when MetroRob was a 2 pack a day smoker (I quit 7 years ago) I had heard that a lit cigg would not ignite a container of gas. So I tried it. I filled a coffee can about a quarter of the way full of gas and started flicking cigarettes at it. About every 10th cigarette would make it go boom, which in my ignorant youth greatly amused me. Again, I'd like to reiterate that lighting off gasoline in such a fashion is dangerous and stupid and I am very lucky to have not hurt or killed myself. Any way, I proved over and over again that a lit cigarette most certainly WOULD ignite a container of gasoline if the conditions were right. Those conditions were, as Nerys described, pretty specific and difficult to duplicate, but it IS possible.

Skip ahead to today. The local fire prevention equipment services representative came to my work to inspect our fire extinguishers. We got to talking about fires and such, and somehow we got on the subject of smoking a cigarette while filling your tank. I made mention of how incredibly stupid that was. He got agitated and told me that there was no way in the world that a lit cigarette, could ignite the gasoline and as a matter of fact you could toss a lit cigarette in a pail of gasoline and it would simply go out and he knows this because he went to 'fire school'. I wanted to tell him that he was full of shit, but I just kept my mouth shut. I have found that it is useless to argue with some people.

Skip ahead to a few hours ago. I decided to put this poll up to see what 'joe public' thought of this concept. All of you seem to have a decent handle of how it works, I mean it's not exactly complicated. It just kinda ruffled my feathers that someone who is supposed to know a thing or two about fires wanted to adamantly argue about this. It clearly ruffled his feathers too when I politely disagreed with him.

I guess this thread was more of a sanity check than anything else. I just wanted to make sure the laws of physics haven't been changed without my knowledge. Fire, no matter how small, can ignite gasoline given the right circumstances, it's just not likely that a lit cigarette tossed in a container of gasoline will do so.


One last thing, its been said a few times but it's worth mentioning again. Intentionally setting fire to large quantities of open gasoline is dangerous and stupid! Please just don't do it.

Thanks everyone!
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billy508
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billy508

Not really OT but a little. I used to work on J-48 jet engines. They had pan in the base of the engine stand to collect any JP-4 that was still in the engine when we started to disassemble. them. There were some retired Nayv guys that worked on the line and they would throw their cigarettes and cigars in the pan just to watch people jump. Of course it was not allowed but they did it anyways. They always went out. EXCEPT for one day. The damn pan of JP-4 roared up and started a big fire. It was a big and expensive mess. I had a very very close call with gasoline but that is another story. Someone put gas in a water bucket and I pored it on the red hot exhaust manifold of a truck to cool it down. Why it did not fire off has always been a mystery to me. I was lucky.
Edited by billy508, Feb 2 2012, 05:52 PM.
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nerys
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Grr

Jp4 is kerosene. its VERY difficult to burn accidentally compared to gasoline which is why its used especially in birds like the blackbird since its used as a COOLANT in the wings!!

it does not "fume" as much as gasoline which is why they "got away" with doing that for so long :-)

point is technically throwing a cig butt in a pail of gas will "NEVER" light the "GASOLINE IN" the pail.

it CAN however light the vapors floating ABOVE the pail and those lit vapors COULD cause the rest of the gasoline to go up when the boom vaporizes more of that gas :-)

thats what I meant by its a bit more complicated than the answers provided.

the REASON your can "lit" every now and then is that each time you failed to light it you joslted more vapors from the surface of the gasoline in the pail till eventually you had the right fuel air mixture to go boom.
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bennie442


JESUS H. CHRIST!!! DAMMIT TO HELL!!! I knew that I shouldn't have tried this as soon as I saw it posted! Issue me a challenge and, by god, I'm up for it! This was before MetroRob took the time to edit his challenge to avoid litigation with his "don't try this at home" addendum. (Me thinks he has a lawyer whispering in his ear on this one). Too little, too late if you ask me! Farquing container went up with a goddamn flash like I hadn't seen since cameras used flash bulbs!! Talk about The Fast And The Furriest!! My garage went up fast and furriest alright! I ran away FAST and was the FURRIEST like nobody's business!! Here I was, thinking W.T.F!!! He said that this wouldn't possibly happen! Liar, liar, pants on fire! (don't ya just love the fire accusation?). After the fire department leaves tonight and I sift through the rubble, I"m switching my internet browser to the "All Disney,All Of The Time".
Edited by bennie442, Feb 2 2012, 08:41 PM.
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Memphis metro


bennie442
Feb 2 2012, 07:55 PM
My garage went up like nobody's business!!
Do you have pictures? We can count on your for a yes vote?
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