12 Jun
2003
12 Jun
'03
8:20 a.m.
On Wed, Jun 11, 2003 at 06:51:43PM -0400, TeoZ wrote:
Yes, some russian caught something on fire in a test
situation and it went
up like the hindenburg before he could put it out. I worked at a company for
over a year that did work with liquid oxygen, and after it went into a heat
exchanger oxygen gas. Its interesting what will burn in the presence of pure
o2 gas. Liquid o2 spilled on anything organic and allowed to seep into it
can be very explosive (a leak of liquid o2 into a parking lot made of
asphault cane make one huge explosion under certain circumstances).
Combustible substances (saw dust, cotton, ...) soaked with liquid oxygen
were sometimes used as explosive (called oxyliquit or somesuch). Nice
property of it: if you don't need it to go *BOOM* anymore, just wait
until the liquid oxygen has evaporated ... although normal industrial
explosives sure are safer to handle.
Regards,
Alex.
--
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and
looks like work." -- Thomas A. Edison