fumes from chemical products and hot metal containers

[daveklepper]

Look, my original posting on the deleted thread had nothing about politics but merely presentation of some retired Israeli Colonel's theory about fumes hitting hot metal container insides  causing fire and explosions, a theory that I felt suggested a danger to some chemical railroad shipments.  Because of the URL and the nature of the total message where I read the theory, the whole thread got involved in accusations and politics that had zero to with the real subject matter.

Please don't have this happen again.  Please get back to the subject matter.  Question, which is more likely to set off fire and/or explosions with either firecrakers or amonium-nitrate, smoldering cigarette butts or sparks from welding?

And take discussions on Bryan Smith's and/or Kalmbach policies to the thread where it belongs and your personal email with the deciding authorities.  Thanks!

[Overmod]

daveklepper

Question, which is more likely to set off fire and/or explosions with either firecrackers or ammonium nitrate, smoldering cigarette butts or sparks from welding?

In the case of ammonium nitrate, neither.  The only thing that will work is sustained heating, not because it makes vapor but because it increases temperature  and hence reaction, combined with physical confinement to cause the transition to detonation.

Firecrackers of course require containment to detonate; gunpowders only deflagrate (burn) unless confined.  However, they are initiated with fuses, which are another thing entirely.  A welding spark will of course happily ignite a fuse, even through tissue paper or glassine packaging, and a smoldering butt might be similar to 'punk' used to light firework fuses.  Once you have tens of thousands of fuses lighting fuses, you will have a good cause of sustained fire in other materials, including the tubes that contain the fireworks.

Incidentally, and Wayne has been trained somewhat more extensively on this, many modern military explosives are intentionally 'desensitized' to limit their tendency to detonate when subjected to heat or physical shocks.  As we have noted in other threads, plastic explosive like Semtex make a nifty cooking fuel if you are careful about the high flame temperature...

[daveklepper]

Thanks for the informed reply.