4 ms·

Jet fuel is flammable, but hardly explosive in the same sense that hydrogen is.

WalterBright 6y ago
The passengers and crew aboard TWA Flight 800 would probably disagree if they'd lived. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_800 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_800 The probable cause was a spark in the fuel tank.
- snypher 6y ago
  It's disingenuous to present the parent comment as saying "jet fuel isn't explosive". Here's some more info on a hydrogen accident involving a relatively small amount. https://www.powermag.com/lessons-learned-from-a-hydrogen-explosion/ https://www.powermag.com/lessons-learned-from-a-hydrogen-exp...
  - WalterBright 6y ago
    Whether its explosive or not is irrelevant when it comes to aircraft/Zeppelins. The problems is it burns very hot and any airplane that catches fire has only seconds before it is consumed, whether or not it explodes.
WalterBright 6y ago
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Air-France-flight-4590 https://www.britannica.com/topic/Air-France-flight-4590 and this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVyZeSgxmsw&t=74s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVyZeSgxmsw&t=74s The thing Lindbergh was most afraid of in his transatlantic attempt was the fuel load. His predecessor died in a huge fireball on takeoff.
- sokoloff 5y ago
  Lindbergh was flying with a fuel much closer to gasoline than jet fuel. Jet fuel is on the kerosene/diesel end of the flammability spectrum (which is to say low and much lower than gasoline). You can put a match out in a jar of jet fuel at room temp. (Start at 1m30s: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7nL10C7FSbE https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7nL10C7FSbE )
  - WalterBright 5y ago
    See my other links in this thread showing airplanes engulfed in fireballs. The idea that jet fuel is safe and doesn't burn in crashes is very, very false. Remember those fireballs when jets crashed into the World Trade Center?
    - sokoloff 5y ago
      Literally nobody here is making argument that jet fuel is 100% safe and we should fill fire extinguishers with it. There is a clear spectrum of flammability/explosiveness in which hydrogen, gasoline, and jet fuel are sorted in that descending order. That's what several posters are saying.
- dredmorbius 5y ago
  A crash and deflagration is not an explosion. An explosion has a reaction front moving faster than the speed of sound. A deflagration is a rapid combustion, but without the shockwave. Sufficient quantities of aviation fuel --- in the case of piston-powered craft, petrol rather than the heavier and less volatile kerosene of jet fuel --- especially when mixed with or dispersed through air will burn quite vigorously. Unless specifically contained, they won't actually explode. Even combustion at high pressures within a piston's cylinder is more a combustion than explosion.
kens 5y ago
The interesting thing about hydrogen is that it is flammable in almost any concentration (4% to 74% in air). Jet fuel, on the other hand, is only flammable over a small concentration range (0.6 to 4.7%).

The passengers and crew aboard TWA Flight 800 would probably disagree if they'd lived. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_800 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_800 The probable cause was a spark in the fuel tank.

snypher 6y ago
It's disingenuous to present the parent comment as saying "jet fuel isn't explosive". Here's some more info on a hydrogen accident involving a relatively small amount. https://www.powermag.com/lessons-learned-from-a-hydrogen-explosion/ https://www.powermag.com/lessons-learned-from-a-hydrogen-exp...
- WalterBright 6y ago
  Whether its explosive or not is irrelevant when it comes to aircraft/Zeppelins. The problems is it burns very hot and any airplane that catches fire has only seconds before it is consumed, whether or not it explodes.

WalterBright 6y ago

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Air-France-flight-4590 https://www.britannica.com/topic/Air-France-flight-4590 and this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVyZeSgxmsw&t=74s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVyZeSgxmsw&t=74s The thing Lindbergh was most afraid of in his transatlantic attempt was the fuel load. His predecessor died in a huge fireball on takeoff.

sokoloff 5y ago
Lindbergh was flying with a fuel much closer to gasoline than jet fuel. Jet fuel is on the kerosene/diesel end of the flammability spectrum (which is to say low and much lower than gasoline). You can put a match out in a jar of jet fuel at room temp. (Start at 1m30s: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7nL10C7FSbE https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7nL10C7FSbE )
- WalterBright 5y ago
  See my other links in this thread showing airplanes engulfed in fireballs. The idea that jet fuel is safe and doesn't burn in crashes is very, very false. Remember those fireballs when jets crashed into the World Trade Center?
  - sokoloff 5y ago
    Literally nobody here is making argument that jet fuel is 100% safe and we should fill fire extinguishers with it. There is a clear spectrum of flammability/explosiveness in which hydrogen, gasoline, and jet fuel are sorted in that descending order. That's what several posters are saying.
dredmorbius 5y ago
A crash and deflagration is not an explosion. An explosion has a reaction front moving faster than the speed of sound. A deflagration is a rapid combustion, but without the shockwave. Sufficient quantities of aviation fuel --- in the case of piston-powered craft, petrol rather than the heavier and less volatile kerosene of jet fuel --- especially when mixed with or dispersed through air will burn quite vigorously. Unless specifically contained, they won't actually explode. Even combustion at high pressures within a piston's cylinder is more a combustion than explosion.

kens 5y ago

The interesting thing about hydrogen is that it is flammable in almost any concentration (4% to 74% in air). Jet fuel, on the other hand, is only flammable over a small concentration range (0.6 to 4.7%).