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Funny, I got plumber-problem'd by this article. > In Speed 2, a plot point involves a laden oil tanker about to collide explosively. My wife, native to a major
by stickfigure 3y ago
Funny, I got plumber-problem'd by this article.
> In Speed 2, a plot point involves a laden oil tanker about to collide explosively. My wife, native to a major oil port city, couldn’t follow the plot because she could tell the tanker was empty just by looking at it, so she didn’t understand why everyone was saying it would explode.
Wait a minute. Full oil tanks don't explode, but empty oil tanks full of hydrocarbon vapor do.
- philsnow 3y agoHey! You got your Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis [0] in our Gell-Mann Amnesia! [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Lee_Whorf#Career_in_fire_prevention https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Lee_Whorf#Career_in_f...
- jaredhallen 3y agoI believe that's only true when the substance in question has flammable vapors. I.e. gasoline, but not oil or diesel. I suppose in the latter case, it would probably not explode on collision whether empty or full. But if liquid leaked out in the crash, I guess it could then combust.
- kens 3y agoNo, oil takers have an inert gas system to ensure that the tanks are not explosive, empty or full. They pump non-flammable flue gases into the tanks to displace oxygen. (This was a plot point in the novel "The Devil's Alternative" which I read probably 40 years ago but my brain remembers random things :-) Details: https://www.marineinsight.com/marine-safety/protection-against-explosion-the-i-g-system/ https://www.marineinsight.com/marine-safety/protection-again...
- stickfigure 3y agoApparently the inert gas systems are not always properly maintained: https://www.offshore-energy.biz/pablo-tanker-explosion-exposes-dangers-of-growing-shadow-fleet/ https://www.offshore-energy.biz/pablo-tanker-explosion-expos... (Googling "oil tanker explosion" produces quite a few similar events)