There was more going on than simply shooting the tank.
Where was the ignition source?
My bet, some distance away.
OTOH a friend of mine did 3 inner tubes full of Oxy/acetylene and
brought the cops from 3 miles away. He wanted to do it in front of my
house but I wouldn't let him. +
I don't know what the details are. All I know is what I read in the
paper the next day and the police report. They said someone reportedly
shot it with a rifle and it blew up. They were also shooting off
fireworks and other 4th of July type pyrotechnics so maybe that had
something to do with it.
I always thought those propane tanks were considered safe because they
couldn't blow up.
That is why I say something else was going on. Myth busters shot a
bunch of them and never even got a fire until they provided an
ignition source (even firing tracers). Then they did have some kind
of flame but it was very close and they got a fireball.
We all know enough about carburetors to understand that to get a bang,
you need the right mix of fuel and air.
This is best accomplished in the wild by letting the fuel build up in
the air slowly in the presence of an ignition source until it ignites.
Then you end up with a whole lot of combustible material in a large
general area.
The theory on the house that blew up was the pilot light on the stove
was out or defective, the burner was not turned off all the way and it
did not go bang until it hit the pilot light on the furnace or water
heater at the other end of the house.
Another ...
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